Impact of Nanoclay on the pH-Responsiveness and Biodegradable Behavior of Biopolymer-Based Nanocomposite Hydrogels
Arti Vashist,
Anujit Ghosal,
Atul Vashist,
Ajeet Kaushik,
Y. K. Gupta,
Madhavan Nair,
Sharif Ahmad
Affiliations
Arti Vashist
Materials Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi 110025, India
Anujit Ghosal
Materials Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi 110025, India
Atul Vashist
Department of Biotechnology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi 110029, India
Ajeet Kaushik
Center for Personalized Nanomedicine, Institute of NeuroImmune Pharmacology, Department of Immunology & Nanomedicine, Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33199, USA
Y. K. Gupta
Department of Pharmacology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi 110029, India
Madhavan Nair
Center for Personalized Nanomedicine, Institute of NeuroImmune Pharmacology, Department of Immunology & Nanomedicine, Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33199, USA
Sharif Ahmad
Materials Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi 110025, India
This research work deployed free radical polymerization for the development of pH-responsive hybrid nanocomposite hydrogels (NCHs) with the formation of improved interpenetrating networks (IPN). The crosslinked biopolymeric system was composed of (chitosan (CH)/guar gum (GG)/polyol) and a nanofiller (Cloisite 30B). The study was aimed to investigate the role of Cloisite 30B as a nanofiller and linseed oil-derived polyol to induce stable interpenetrating networks in chitosan‒guar gum-based hydrogels. FT-IR analysis confirmed the formation of crosslinked networks with the formation of hydrogen bonds in the synthesized NCHs. Thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry revealed high thermal stability of the NCHs. The hydrolytic and soil burial degradation tests confirmed the biodegradability of the synthesized NCHs. An extraordinarily high swelling capacity in a buffer solution of pH 4.0 and 7.4 demonstrated their pH-responsive behavior. It has been demonstrated that even the minimal addition of polyol to the guar gum-based hydrogels has influenced the stability and characteristic features such as high swelling capacity owing to the formation of interpenetrating networks and the biodegradability of the hydrogels.
