Swelling and Antimicrobial Activity Characterization of a GO-Reinforced Gelatin-Whey Hydrogel

Pompilia Mioara Purcea Lopes; Dumitriţa Moldovan; Radu Fechete; Doina Prodan; Carmen Rodica Pop; Ancuța M Rotar; Violeta Popescu

doi:10.3390/gels9010018

Swelling and Antimicrobial Activity Characterization of a GO-Reinforced Gelatin-Whey Hydrogel

Gels. 2022 Dec 27;9(1):18. doi: 10.3390/gels9010018.

Authors

Pompilia Mioara Purcea Lopes¹, Dumitriţa Moldovan¹, Radu Fechete¹, Doina Prodan², Carmen Rodica Pop³, Ancuța M Rotar³, Violeta Popescu¹

Affiliations

¹ Physics and Chemistry Department, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, 28 Memorandumului Str., 400114 Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
² Composite Materials Department, Chemistry Research Institute "Raluca Ripan", "Babes-Bolyai" University, 30 Fantanele Str., 400294 Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
³ Department of Food Science, Faculty of Food Science and Technology, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, 64 Calea Floresti Str., 400509 Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

Abstract

Whey-based hydrogel samples with increasing concentrations of graphene oxide (GO) were studied, against a control sample (M), for swelling behavior in light of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and mathematical models of the diffusion process and for antibacterial activity. Graphene oxide (GO) is an optimal filler for whey-based hydrogels, giving them improved mechanical and swelling properties at low concentrations. Crosslinking induces a certain stiffness of the hydrogels, which is why only the first part of the swelling process (<60%) follows the first-order model, while during the whole time interval, the swelling process follows the second-order diffusion model. The NMR relaxometry results are consistent with the swelling behavior of GO-reinforced whey−gelatin composite hydrogels, showing that higher GO concentrations induce a higher degree of cross-linking and, therefore, lower swelling capacity. Only hydrogel samples with higher GO concentrations demonstrated antibacterial activity.

Keywords: NMR relaxometry; antibacterial activity; crosslinking; gelatin; graphene oxide; swelling; whey.

Grants and funding

This paper was financially supported by the Project “Entrepreneurial competencies and excellence research in doctoral and postdoctoral programs—ANTREDOC”, a project co-funded by the European Social Fund financing agreement no. 56437/24.07.2019.