Sodium alginate fasten cellulose nanocrystal Ag@AgCl ternary nanocomposites for the synthesis of antibacterial hydrogels

Sodium alginate (SA) hydrogel has broad prospects in medical dressings due to its good biocompatibility and non-toxicity. However, the shortcomings of a single SA hydrogel, such as insufficient toughness and poor antibacterial properties, limit its large-scale application. In this study, SA/CNC-Ag@AgCl/TA (SACT) hydrogels were prepared using CNC-Ag@AgCl and tannic acid (TA) with different contents into SA. The results show that the addition of CNC-Ag@AgCl improves the toughness of the gel, and the addition of TA, and the fracture strain is further improved, and get to 128% form 8% of SA and 78% of SAC. Simultaneously, the antibacterial analysis using the zone-inhibition and colony-counting method shows that the composite hydrogel has decent antibacterial effects on both Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). This work demonstrates a new method for improving the toughness and antibacterial properties of SA hydrogel, which is expected to be used in medical dressings and other relevant fields.

Automated summary

The study developed SA/CNC-Ag@AgCl/TA (SACT) hydrogels with improved toughness and antibacterial properties, demonstrating potential for use in medical dressings and other relevant fields.