Chitosan-based hydrogel incorporating mesoporous silica/zinc oxide nanoparticles with controlled swelling and potent antibacterial activity

Abstract

Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is a notable causative agent of bacterial infections known for its development of antibiotic resistance over time. In response, hydrogels augmented with antibacterial nanoparticles (NPs) and controllable swelling properties have emerged as promising alternatives. In the study, a novel chitosan (CS)-based hydrogel was prepared by combining CS as a main component, zinc oxide NPs (ZnO NPs) as an antibacterial agent, and mesoporous silica NPs (MSN) as the swelling control material. Comprehensive characterization of the prepared novel hydrogels were carried out by dynamic light scattering (DLS), zeta potential (ζ-potential), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microcopy (SEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The ZnO/MSN/CS-based hydrogel exhibited superior swelling, precisely controllable swelling, and potent antibacterial activity against S. aureus. These hybrid CS-based hydrogels, incorporating both ZnO NPs and MSN, exhibit significant potential as agents for combating antibiotic resistance, offering an alternative strategy to mitigate reliance on conventional antibiotics.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

Keywords:

• Antibacterial activity
• chitosan
• hydrogel
• mesoporous silica nanoparticles
• zinc oxide nanoparticles

Authors’ contributions

AA: Conceptualization, methodology, investigation, validation, formal analysis, supervision, resources, review & editing, and funding acquisition. IO: Formal analysis, investigation, methodology, writing-original draft & editing, EB: methodology, validation, formal analysis, investigation, NT: Conceptualization, formal analysis, review, and editing. All authors have reviewed and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Data availability statement

The data that supports the findings of this study are available upon reasonable request from the authors.