Hydrogen-Bond Assembly of Poly(vinyl alcohol) and Polyhexamethylene Guanidine for Nonleaching and Transparent Antimicrobial Films

The combination of transparency, antimicrobial activities, nonleaching of antimicrobial component and green preparation for poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) films is of importance for practical applications in industry. However, until now it remains a challenge. Herein, a facile antimicrobial PVA films containing polyhexamethylene guanidine (PHMG) is reported via a green solution casting method. Such PVA films show high transparency of 91%, above 99.99% of antimicrobial rates against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, and nonleaching characteristic of PHMG due to the hydrogen-bond (H-bond) interaction between PHMG and PVA. The thermal stability and mechanical properties of the PVA films are further improved compared to neat PVA film. These antimicrobial films are expected to find promising applications in tissue engineering and packaging fields, which opens up a methodology to prepare nonleaching antimicrobial polymeric materials via H-bond.