Preparation and application of sodium alginate hydrogel film loaded with nano-silver/graphene composite

Abstract

Sodium alginate (SA) is a natural polymer material that has been widely studied and used in the biomedical field. Nano-silver (Ag) has been proven to present good antibacterial properties, but its application is limited due to its easy agglomeration. In this paper, a series of Ag-graphene composites (Ag-GO) were prepared and characterized by loading Ag nanoparticles on the surface of graphene oxide (GO) sheets. Ag-GO was then added into SA, and a double-layered SA hydrogel film (Ag-GO/SA) carrying Ag-GO was prepared by sol-gel process. FTIR, XRD and SEM characterizations were used to determine the chemical structure and micromorphology of Ag-GO/SA. In addition, swelling ability, mechanical and antibacterial properties, as well as in-vitro cytotoxicity and in-vivo wound healing ability of Ag-GO/SA samples were also evaluated. The results show that the prepared Ag-GO/SA has good swelling property, sufficient mechanical strength, excellent wound healing and antibacterial properties. Specially, the optimum hydrogel of Ag-GO/SA can promote wound healing in SD rats, with a wound healing rate of up to 98%, presenting great application potential as a new type of wound dressing.