Abstract
To investigate the effect of nanoparticle reinforcement, polymer blends (M8) comprising polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinylpyrrolidone, polyethylene glycol, and chitosan were modified using zinc oxide particles (M8/ZnO). This study introduces an M8-modified ZnO composite that offers a non-antibiotic approach relevant to antimicrobial resistance. The average particle size of the ZnO particles was determined to be 181.8 nm using scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis. Based on the inhibition percentage, M8 has a minimum inhibition concentration (MIC) to have at least a 50% inhibition, or MIC50 value, against Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) and Salmonella enterica (SE) at 12.5 and 25% of M8, respectively. The MIC with at least a 90% inhibition percentage, or MIC90, of M8 against SE and PA is 25% of M8. On the other hand, the MIC50 of M8/ZnO against SE, Staphylococcus aureus (SA), and PA is 25, 12.5, and 50% of M8/ZnO, respectively. The MIC90 of M8/ZnO against SE and SA is 50% and 25% of M8/ZnO, respectively. However, M8/ZnO does not inhibit a minimum of 90% of the PA bacteria. Hence, the ratio optimization between M8 and ZnO or the usage of other particles should be considered as a topic for future study.