EVALUATION OF ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITIES OF NYLON 6,6 NANOFIBERS COATED WITH MINT OIL AND MINT EXTRACT

Abstract: The aim of the study was to fabricate Nylon 6,6 nanofibers coated with essential oil and plant extract to create an antibacterial activity which can be used as a potential food packaging material or biomedical textile. Herein, the target antibacterial material was engineered by coating mint oil and mint extract on Nylon 6,6 nanofibers. Firstly, production of Nylon based nanofibers was performed by electrospinning technique. Then, mint oil and mint extract were decorated onto nanofibers via ultrasonication technique. The nanofibers were characterized using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrophometer. Antibacterial activities of surface coated nanofibers were evaluated using Gram‐positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus) and Gram‐negative bacteria (Escherichia coli). The inhibition zones were measured and recorded. Nanofibers coated mint oil showed better antibacterial properties as compared to mint extract.