Preparation and Application of Polyvinyl Alcohol/Chitosan Quaternary Ammonium Salt/Polyacrylamide-Based Double Network Hydrogel

Abstract

Most functional hydrogels have biocompatibility problems in the pursuit of high performance, and there is an urgent need to study the problem of maintaining good biocompatibility and making hydrogels both multifunctional. Here, this paper proposes polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), chitosan quaternary ammonium salt (HACC) and polyacrylamide (PAM) with good biocompatibility as hydrogel substrates and nano-ferric copper-zinc oxide (nFCZ) as the main antimicrobial source. The physicochemical double crosslinked network hydrogels were prepared using one-pot method. Finally, the conductive properties of the hydrogel were enhanced by soaking in CaCl₂ solution, and the PHP dual-network conductive antimicrobial composite hydrogel was prepared. The hydrogel was characterised, tested and analysed through various tests. The results showed that the obtained dual-network composite hydrogels had good mechanical properties, stable sensing properties, excellent swelling rate, biocompatibility and antimicrobial activity, and the bacterial inhibition rate against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus was higher than 99%. The stable electrical conductivity and sensing properties promote cell regeneration at the wound site, which broadens the scope of hydrogel applications in biomedical fields.