Synthesis, characterization and antimicrobial activity of Schiff bases from chitosan and salicylaldehyde/TiO2 nanocomposite membrane.

Salicylaldehyde (SA) successfully used as a mono aldehyde crosslinker with chitosan forming hydrogel membrane in presence of TiO2 NPs through casting technique. FTIR, XRD, SEM-EDX and TGA used to characterized and examining membrane physical and thermal properties. Swelling percent was evaluated for the fabricated membranes to visualize the crosslinking effect of SA Antibacterial activity evaluated using CFU methods against S. aureus, P. aeruginosa. FTIR revealed the formation of Schiff based reaction, while XRD demonstrated the presence of Titanium NPs patterns and approved bond formation between of chitosan and TiO2 NPs. SEM-EDX approve the crosslinking and TiO2 NPs dispersity on membrane surface. Crosslinking was enhanced using SA and TiO2 until reaching 1 ml of SA and 0.5 mg of TiO2 inside membrane formulation. TGA confirmed the improvement of thermal behavior in presence either crosslinking or nanometals. Mechanical properties enhanced using both crosslinker and TiO2 nanoparticle at membrane formulation. The obtained findings validated that the nanoparticles affect strength properties while crosslinker affects plasticity. All formulated membranes showed an effective antimicrobial activity towards S. aureus and P. aeruginosa and exhibits full eradication of bacteria under investigation.