Antibacterial Superabsorbent Polymers from Tara Gum Grafted Poly(Acrylic acid) Embedded Silver Particles

Mingfang Chi; Chang Liu; Jie Shen; Zhehai Dong; Zi Yang; Lijuan Wang

doi:10.3390/polym10090945

Antibacterial Superabsorbent Polymers from Tara Gum Grafted Poly(Acrylic acid) Embedded Silver Particles

Polymers (Basel). 2018 Aug 24;10(9):945. doi: 10.3390/polym10090945.

Authors

Mingfang Chi^{1

2}, Chang Liu^{3

4}, Jie Shen^{5

6}, Zhehai Dong^{7

8}, Zi Yang^{9

10}, Lijuan Wang^{11

12}

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Bio-Based Materials Science and Technology of Ministry of Education, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China. 1057709686@nefu.edu.cn.
² Research Center of Wood Bionic Intelligent Science, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China. 1057709686@nefu.edu.cn.
³ Key Laboratory of Bio-Based Materials Science and Technology of Ministry of Education, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China. 18145145911@nefu.edu.cn.
⁴ Research Center of Wood Bionic Intelligent Science, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China. 18145145911@nefu.edu.cn.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Bio-Based Materials Science and Technology of Ministry of Education, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China. sj@nefu.edu.cn.
⁶ Research Center of Wood Bionic Intelligent Science, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China. sj@nefu.edu.cn.
⁷ Key Laboratory of Bio-Based Materials Science and Technology of Ministry of Education, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China. 1007558214@nefu.edu.cn.
⁸ Research Center of Wood Bionic Intelligent Science, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China. 1007558214@nefu.edu.cn.
⁹ Key Laboratory of Bio-Based Materials Science and Technology of Ministry of Education, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China. 1024279298@nefu.edu.cn.
¹⁰ Research Center of Wood Bionic Intelligent Science, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China. 1024279298@nefu.edu.cn.
¹¹ Key Laboratory of Bio-Based Materials Science and Technology of Ministry of Education, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China. donglinwlj@163.com.
¹² Research Center of Wood Bionic Intelligent Science, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China. donglinwlj@163.com.

Abstract

Tara gum/silver composite superabsorbent polymers were synthesized with tara gum grafted poly(acrylic acid), using K₂S₂O₈ (KPS) as an initiator and N,N'-methylenebisacrylamide (MBA) as a cross-linker. The products were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscope (TEM), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The results showed that the silver ions were partially reduced to Ag⁰ and the amorphous nanoparticles containing Ag⁰ and Ag₂O were around 10~50 nm in size The tara gum/silver composite superabsorbent polymers exhibited an interconnected porous structure with strong water absorption capacity. The swelling ratio of each product could reach 473 g/g in distilled water and 62 g/g in 0.9% NaCl solution. The antimicrobial activity of the samples against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli increased with the addition of AgNO₃ from 0 to 125 mg. This work indicates that the developed tara gum/silver composite superabsorbent polymers can be potentially used for biomedical applications.

Keywords: antibacterial properties; silver; superabsorbent polymers; tara gum.