Impact of chitosan addition on the characteristics and antibacterial properties of fluorapatite-copper(II) oxide synthesized via sol-gel method

Abstract Chitosan has been known as one of the polymers that have antibacterial properties as a bactericide. This property is utilized in this study to improve the ability of fluorapatite-copper(II) oxide as an antibacterial material synthesized through the sol-gel method. The results of characterization using an X-ray diffractometer revealed that fluorapatite was maintained as the dominant phase (2θ = 32°) in three variations of chitosan weight (0.50, 0.75, and 1.00 g). The crystallinity of fluorapatite-copper(II) oxide decreased by 20 % due to the increasing amount of amorphous chitosan. The infrared spectrum of fluorapatite-copper(II) oxide-chitosan informs the presence of chitosan characteristic groups (−NH 2 and −C=O amide), along with fluorapatite characteristic groups (phosphate), which indicates the interaction between chitosan and fluorapatite-copper(II) oxide. The size and surface morphology of the particles were confirmed to be on a micro scale with agglomeration based on the results of particle size analysis and scanning electron microscopy micrographs. In addition, increasing the amount of chitosan reduced the calcium/phosphorus ratio due to combining chitosan particles with fluorapatite-copper(II) oxide. The antibacterial properties of Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli bacterial cultures produced inhibition zones of 0.78 and 2.35 mm for samples with the addition of 0.75 g and 1.00 g of chitosan.