Freeze-Dried Soluble Polypyrrole-Loaded Electrospun Fibers for Use as Antibacterial and Antibiofilm Agents

The intrinsic antibacterial activity of polypyrrole has been combined with different strategies to control its solubility in water for the following release in antibacterial compounds. Herein, a new method for loading antibacterial polypyrrole into electrospun fibers is proposed, in which freeze-drying of soluble polypyrrole produces a conductive powder loaded into electrospun fibers of Eudragit L100 applied as an antibacterial agent. The dispersion of loaded fibers in aqueous solution results in the release of the polypyrrole that controls the bacterial growth in the bulk solution with the following deposition of bacteria on the fiber surface. The kinetics of bacterial kill time returned 15 min for the complete elimination of S. aureus and 45 min for E. coli. The antibiofilm activity against S. aureus was confirmed with a 4-order reduction in viable cells for treated reactors.