Abstract:
The present study was focused on the fabrication and characterization of polymeric wound
dressings, composed of sodium alginate and Polyethylene glycol. Calcium chloride was
added to the polymeric solution for cross-linking. Silver and zinc oxide nanoparticles
were incorporated into the formulated hydrogel as an antibacterial agent. The hydrogels
were synthesized via the solution casting and tested against different characterization
techniques i.e. XRD, SEM, FTIR, and TGA. The XRD pattern of Sodium alginate and
polyethylene glycol hydrogel denoted by SAPEG observed peaks 9.8°, 19.4°,23.1°, and
26.5° were related to the face-centered structure of sodium alginate and PEG hydrogel.
The SEM results showed the phase separation between SA and PEG membranes.
Furthermore, nanoparticles were also homogeneously dispersed in the hydrogel. The mass
loss of pristine SAPEG hydrogel membrane is 100% at 31°C. However, the mass loss is
15.5% at 743°C. The maximum tensile strength was 30.8 MPa for
SAPEG/0.01Ag/0.02ZnO hydrogel membrane. The effective results of cytotoxicity were
of hydrogel membrane SAPEG/0.01Ag/0.02ZnO. The contact angle was reduced after the
incorporation of nanoparticles from 27.5° to 15.6°. The antibacterial activity was
investigated against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. The maximum zone of
inhibition was 15 ± 0.67 achieved against E.coli for SA/PEG/0.03ZnO. The maximum
zone of inhibition was 27.25 mm achieved against S.Aureus for
SA/PEG/0.01Ag/0.02ZnO. The formulated hydrogel membranes have demonstrated the
capability to be used as a wound dressing.
