Porous SBA-15/cellulose membrane with prolonged anti-microbial drug release characteristics for potential wound dressing application

Abstract A sustained release of anti-infection drugs is beneficial for the reduction of required dressing change times and the protection of the granulation tissue against further infection. In this work, the strategy of encapsulating mesoporous SBA-15 particles in a permeable cellulose membrane (CM) was used in the preparation of antibacterial cellulose based composite membranes to depot store and deliver drugs with prolonged anti-microbial drug release characteristics. It was found that SBA-15 with the protection of phosphate buffered saline prefilled in SBA-15 mesoporous channel could resist strong alkali environment during composite membranes preparation and its mesoporous structure remained intact, which was verified by SEM, TEM and BET results. The resultant cellulose based composite membrane containing 30 wt% SBA-15 (denoted as P-CM-SBA (30%)) had achieved 3.6 wt% drug loading and demonstrated the sustained release of chloramphenicol for 250 h, which was resulted from SBA-15/cellulose structure-inducing two-stage release behavior. Strong antibacterial activity of P-CM-SBA (30%) against S. aureus and E. coli . could last 144 h. In addition, the tensile strength, water vapor transmission rate and swelling properties of P-CM-SBA (30%) conformed to the primary requirements of wound dressing materials. Therefore, cellulose based composite membrane with 30 wt% SBA-15 particles possesses the potential for the application of wound healing. Graphic abstract