Both Tough and Soft Double Network Hydrogel Nanocomposite Based on O‐Carboxymethyl Chitosan/Poly(vinyl alcohol) and Graphene Oxide: A Promising Alternative for Tissue Engineering

Abstract

A reinforced double network (DN) hydrogel as a candidate for skin scaffold was prepared. It consists of Ocarboxymethyl chitosan, polyvinyl alcohol, honey, CaCl 2 , and graphene oxide. The various concentrations of CaCl 2 , namely, 30, 45, and 60 wt% were investigated. Besides, the GO content was studied as 3, 5, and 10 wt%. The structure of the DN was characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive X-ray and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller were evaluated. The mechanical properties were studied, too. It showed that the DN with 45 wt% CaCl 2 was optimized. Also, swelling mechanism was investigated. Moreover, with the increase in GO content, the mechanical strength was increased. The cytotoxicity was evaluated and it was indicated that DN with 45% CaCl 2 and 5% GO had an acceptable level of biocompatibility. Moreover, scanning electron microscopy images showed the porous structure of the DN nanocomposite. Thus, the DN has the potential to be applied in tissue engineering as a skin scaffold. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 60:889-899, 2020.

Biomedical applications of chitosan-graphene oxide nanocomposites

“…With the rapid development of GO, CS–GO nanocomposites are exceedingly promising systems possessing the potential for application in tissue engineering ( Olad and Bakht Khosh Hagh, 2019 ; Ruiz et al., 2019 ; Wang et al., 2018b ). After researching the literature of recent years, it is obvious that CS–GO nanocomposites may eventually be leveraged to the regeneration of diverse tissues such as bone ( Kosowska et al., 2018 ; Prakash et al., 2020 ), skin ( Pourjavadi et al., 2020 ), heart ( Jiang et al., 2019 ; Saravanan et al., 2018a ), nerve ( Arnaldi et al., 2020 ) or other electroactive tissue ( Jing et al., 2017 ). Among them, research in bone tissue engineering occupies a great part, while research in other tissues takes up a relatively small proportion.…”

Plasticized poly(vinylalcohol) and poly(vinylpyrrolidone) based patches with tunable mechanical properties for cardiac tissue engineering applications

“…A number of previous studies have used PVA or PVP with combination of various polymers to fabricate scaffolds for various tissue engineering applications (Delgado‐Rangel et al, 2019; Mishra et al, 2019; Pourjavadi et al, 2020; Teixeira et al, 2020). However, the application of PVA–PVP has not been well explored for CTE.…”

High strength and bioactivity polyvinyl alcohol/collagen composite hydrogel with tannic acid as cross‐linker

“…The other is to integrate PVA hydrogel with other materials to create a multi‐functional composite structure, such as interpenetrating networks or double network hydrogels. [ 17,18 ] Darabi et al adopted a physical concentration method to prepare high concentration sodium hydroxide hydrogels by physical cross‐linking PVA, and obtained physical cross‐linked PVA hydrogel materials with high mechanical properties, low water content, damage resistance and shape memory properties. [ 19 ] Zhang et al added graphene oxide (GO) to PVA to make GO/PVA composite hydrogels by a freeze/thaw method.…”