Chitosan/Arabic gum /ZnO bionanocomposite as a novel antibacterial agent

The synthesis conditions of chitosan/Arabic gum /zinc oxide nanocomposite were optimized using the Taguchi method to obtain antibacterial properties. FT-IR, XRD, FESEM, EDX, TEM, UV/VIS and TGA techniques were used to characterize the nanocomposite. Nanocomposite C3 (1 mg/mL chitosan, 4.5 mg/mL Arabic gum and 8 mg/mL zinc oxide), C7 (3 mg/mL chitosan, 5.1 mg/mL Arabic gum and 8 mg/mL zinc oxide) and C9 (3 mg/mL chitosan, 4.5 mg/mL Arabic gum and 4 mg/mL zinc oxide) had the best antibacterial properties against S. mutans. TGA showed that ZnO improved the thermal stability of the nanocomposite. Such materials can be used as antibacterial agents.