Aramid nanofibers reinforced polyvinyl alcohol/tannic acid hydrogel with improved mechanical and antibacterial properties for potential application as wound dressing. (June 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Guo, Yuqing; An, Xiaoli; Fan, Zengjie
• Is Part Of: Journal of the mechanical behavior of biomedical materials. Volume 118(2021)
• Publication Date: 2021-06
• Subjects: Antibacterial property -- Aramid nanofibers -- Hydrogel -- Polyvinyl alcohol -- Shape memory -- Wound dressing; Biomedical materials -- Periodicals; Biomedical materials -- Mechanical properties -- Periodicals; Biomedical materials; Biomedical materials -- Mechanical properties; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 610.28
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jmbbm.2021.104452
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1751-6161

Abstract

Abstract: The poor mechanical properties and the lack of antibacterial ability of hydrogels limit their applications as wound dressing. In this work, a novel and high strength polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/tannic acid (TA) hydrogel with aramid nanofibers (ANFs) as the reinforcement was successfully fabricated. The surface composition and microstructure of the hydrogel were characterized by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The mechanical properties, water content and swelling behaviors, as well as the antibacterial abilities and biocompatibility of the prepared hydrogel were systematically analyzed as well. The results indicated that the prepared hydrogel showed excellent mechanical properties. The tensile strength and elongation of the prepared hydrogel can respectively reach 2.06 MPa and 950% owing to the formation of the multiple H bonds among PVA, ANFs and TA. What's more, PVA/ANFs/TA (PAT) hydrogel possessed shape memory and broad-spectrum antibacterial properties against S. aureus, E. coli and P. aeruginosa (100% antibacterial rate) at the concentration of 12 mg/mL. PAT hydrogels also had low cytotoxicity, affirming its potential application as wound dressing.