Scientific Reports (Jun 2024)

Tannic acid modified keratin/sodium alginate/carboxymethyl chitosan biocomposite hydrogels with good mechanical properties and swelling behavior

  • Liqing Zhu,
  • Fenfen Ouyang,
  • Xue Fu,
  • Yimei Wang,
  • Ting Li,
  • Min Wen,
  • Guodong Zha,
  • Xue Yang

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-63186-6
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 14, no. 1
pp. 1 – 16

Abstract

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Abstract Natural polymer-based hydrogels have demonstrated great potential as wound-healing dressings. They help to maintain a moist wound environment as well as promote faster healing. In this work, a multifunctional hydrogel was prepared using keratin, sodium alginate, and carboxymethyl chitosan with tannic acid modification. Micro-morphology of hydrogels has been performed by scanning electron microscopy. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy reveals the presence of hydrogen bonding. The mechanical properties of the hydrogels were examined using a universal testing machine. Furthermore, we investigated several properties of the modified hydrogel. These properties include swelling rate, water retention, anti-freezing properties, antimicrobial and antioxidant properties, hemocompatibility evaluation and cell viability test in vitro. The modified hydrogel has a three-dimensional microporous structure, the swelling rate was 1541.7%, the elastic modulus was 589.74 kPa, the toughness was 211.74 kJ/m3, and the elongation at break was 75.39%, which was similar to the human skin modulus. The modified hydrogel also showed inhibition of S. aureus and E. coli, as well as a DPPH scavenging rate of 95%. In addition, the modified hydrogels have good biological characteristics. Based on these findings, the K/SA/CCS hydrogel holds promise for applications in biomedical engineering.

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