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Self‐Assembled Supramolecular Hybrid Hydrogel Beads Loaded with Silver Nanoparticles for Antimicrobial Applications
Author(s) -
Piras Carmen C.,
Mahon Clare S.,
Smith David K.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
chemistry – a european journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.687
H-Index - 242
eISSN - 1521-3765
pISSN - 0947-6539
DOI - 10.1002/chem.202001349
Subject(s) - self healing hydrogels , silver nanoparticle , antimicrobial , enterococcus faecium , materials science , nanocomposite , nanoparticle , nanotechnology , polymer , bead , chemistry , polymer chemistry , antibiotics , organic chemistry , biochemistry , composite material
This Full Paper reports the formation of silver (Ag) NPs within spatially resolved two‐component hydrogel beads, which combine a low‐molecular‐weight gelator (LMWG) DBS‐CONHNH 2 and a polymer gelator (PG) calcium alginate. The AgNPs are formed through in situ reduction of Ag I , with the resulting nanoparticle‐loaded gels being characterised in detail. The antibacterial activity of the nanocomposite gel beads was tested against two drug‐resistant bacterial strains, often associated with hospital‐acquired infections: vancomycin‐resistant Enterococcus faecium (VRE) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA14), and the AgNP‐loaded gels showed good antimicrobial properties against both types of bacteria. It is suggested that the gel bead format of these AgNP‐loaded hybrid hydrogels makes them promising versatile materials for potential applications in orthopaedics or wound healing.