Cow urine has been shown to have useful applications in medicine and therapeutics. Indeed, many studies have shown that cow urine has the potential to cure various conditions, such as kidney and skin diseases. The current study demonstrated the effectiveness and cost efficiency of cow urine enhanced by encapsulating in cellulose nanoparticles (CNPs). The encapsulation process was aided by Tween-20 and olive oil through the microemulsion procedure. Scanning electron, transmission electron and atomic force microscopy revealed that the CNPs encapsulated cow urine were with the size range of 40 to 100 nm and agglomerated. Furthermore, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) studies revealed that various components known to exist in cow urine were also in the CNPs encapsulated cow urine. XPS analysis displays the presence of a single carbon between the atoms composed of two electrons in the CNPs. XRD result shows the most intense peak at 2θ = 32.14° and crystallinity. With FTIR on the encapsulated cow urine, a broad peak was observed in the range between 655 and 662.5 cm−1. The encapsulated cow urine exerted a good inhibitory activity toward Bacillus subtilis (11 ± 1.5 mm/50 μL) and Aspergillus niger compared to the cow urine alone, as well as a notable inhibition of Escherichia coli (17 ± 2.2 mm/50 μL). Overall, the results of this study demonstrated that the antimicrobial properties of cow urine can be enhanced through microencapsulation, which may enable its efficient delivery.
