A multifunctional, one-step gas foaming strategy for antimicrobial silver nanoparticle-decorated 3D cellulose nanofiber scaffolds

Creating nanoparticle-decorated nanofibers in a single step can greatly speed up and scale up the production of scaffolds for various applications. In this study, we report a facile multifunctional method for the simultaneous foaming and synthesis of silver nanoparticles-covered three-dimensional cellulose using sodium borohydride (NaBH4). The physicochemical properties of the 3D cellulose-Ag scaffold were evaluated and compared to 2D CA membranes, including morphology (porous 3D vs flat 2D), mechanical properties (22.72 vs <13 MPa Young's modulus), antibacterial effect (27 vs 0 mm zone of inhibition), and biocompatibility. The findings suggest that our method enables the scaffold to be easily manufactured—indicating it can be used to scale-up manufacturing processes—with high bioactivity, antibacterial effect, and biocompatibility, showing potential as a 3D structure production method for tissue engineering and other relevant applications.