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Visible light-driven antibacterial activities of zinc nanoparticle/fullerenol composite and its wound healing application

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Abstract

Bacterial infection has been considered as a serious problem posing health and economic risks worldwide. Although certain materials like antibiotics have been widely used as antimicrobial products, their cytotoxicity and drug resistance effect remain challenges. Fullerene (C60) has been proven as a safe antibacterial material via photodynamic therapy (PDT), but its strong hydrophobicity and limited bactericidal efficiency prevent its biomedical application. Herein, we report a facile strategy in producing ultrasmall (ca. 3 nm) zinc nanoparticle-decorated hydroxylated C60 (ZnNPs/fullerenol), which possesses high solubility and stability in water. Efficient antibacterial performances of ZnNPs/fullerenol were achieved under a visible light irradiation for only 15 min that the inhibition rate for E. coli and S. aureus could reach to 99 and 80%, respectively. This is attributed to the strong synergism of ZnNPs and fullerenol, leading to a large radical oxygen species (ROS) generation under visible light. In vivo tests further indicated excellent wound healing functionality of our composite. This work may shed light on the innovation for next generation of nanoscale antibacterial agents.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

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Acknowledgements

This work was granted by the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK20170175). The support from the Central Laboratory, School of Chemical and Material Engineering, Jiangnan University is gratefully acknowledged as well.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Synthetic and Biological Colloids, Ministry of Education, School of Chemical and Material Engineering, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214122, China

    Jie Wan, Yuxuan **a, Yuyuan Zhang, Jiaxin Ma, Liqing Zhang, Qiong Zhang, Liu Hong & Cheng Yang

  2. Key Laboratory of National Health Commission on Parasitic Disease Control and Prevention, Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory on Parasite and Vector Control, Jiangsu Institute of Parasitic Diseases and Public Health Research Center of Jiangnan University, Wuxi, 214064, China

    Yonghua Zhou

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  1. Jie Wan
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  2. Yuxuan **a
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  3. Yuyuan Zhang
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  6. Qiong Zhang
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  8. Liu Hong
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  9. Cheng Yang
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Contributions

JW was involved in whole experimental operation, data analysis and original draft writing. YX and YZ assisted the implementation for in vitro antibacterial and animal experiments. JM and LZ contributed to the synthesis, characterization and ROS determination of ZnNPs/fullerenol nanocomposite. QZ contributed to MTT assay of ZnNPs/fullerenol. YZ designed and supervised the animal experiment. LH contributed to the experimental conception, design and coordination of manuscript preparation. CY was involved in project administration, funding acquisition, reviewing and editing the manuscript. All authors have approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Yonghua Zhou, Liu Hong or Cheng Yang.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethical approval

All animal experiments were conducted according to the guidelines issued by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of China (IACUC) and approved by the Laboratory Animal Ethics Committee of Jiangsu Institute of Parasitic Diseases (No.: IACUC-JIPD-2022068).

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Handling Editor: Annela M. Seddon.

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Wan, J., **a, Y., Zhang, Y. et al. Visible light-driven antibacterial activities of zinc nanoparticle/fullerenol composite and its wound healing application. J Mater Sci 58, 14500–14513 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-023-08924-3

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