Rapid preparation of ZnO nanocomposite hydrogels by frontal polymerization of a ternary DES and performance study

Bin Li; Mengjing Zhou; Ming Cheng; Jizhen Liu; Xiaojia Xu; Xiangyu Xie

doi:10.1039/d2ra01626e

Rapid preparation of ZnO nanocomposite hydrogels by frontal polymerization of a ternary DES and performance study

RSC Adv. 2022 Apr 28;12(20):12871-12877. doi: 10.1039/d2ra01626e. eCollection 2022 Apr 22.

Authors

Bin Li¹, Mengjing Zhou¹, Ming Cheng¹, Jizhen Liu¹, Xiaojia Xu¹, Xiangyu Xie²

Affiliations

¹ School of Mechanical Engineering, Wuhan Polytechnic University Wuhan Hubei 430023 China lb420@whpu.edu.cn.
² Hubei Key Laboratory of Theory and Application of Advanced Materials Mechanics, Wuhan University of Technology Wuhan Hubei 430070 China.

Abstract

A deep eutectic solvent (DES) was synthesized from urea (U), acrylamide (AM), and choline chloride (ChCl). ZnO was dispersed in the DES as a filler, and nanocomposite hydrogels (ZnO/P(U-AM-ChCl)) were successfully prepared by frontal polymerization (FP). The hydrogels were verified by Fourier infrared spectroscopy to contain ZnO nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs). The swelling behaviour, conductivity, and antibacterial properties of the ZnO nanocomposite hydrogels were investigated. The results showed that the ZnO/P(U-AM-ChCl) hydrogels had excellent antibacterial properties and exhibited super high inhibition rates of 81.87% and 88.42% against two basic colonies of Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, respectively. The equilibrium swelling of the hydrogels was found to increase significantly from 9.30 to 12.29 with the addition of ZnO, while the ZnO/P(U-AM-ChCl) hydrogel conductivity exhibited good UV sensitivity. This study provides a rapid and low-energy method for the preparation of nanocomposite hydrogels with excellent antibacterial properties.