Silver nanocomposite hydrogel for pH responsive controlled drug release applications

This work is aimed at developing hydrogel of sodium alginate (SA) with properties suitable for controlled release applications. The hydrogel was synthesized by blending SA with Lignosulphonic acid (LS) stabilized silver nanoparticles. Its characterization was done by UV-vis spectroscopy, FTIR, XRD and TGA techniques. A single peak at 405.2 nm of UV-visible spectra confirmed presence of monodispersed and spherical silver nanoparticles (SNP), stabilization of SNP by LS was confirmed from FTIR and crystallinity by XRD. Beads from drug loaded hydrogel showed sustained release of both drug and silver nanoparticles in pH 7. It was also observed that the silver nanoparticle loaded hydrogel bead showed better stability and drug release ability than SA/LS hydrogel beads. The synthesized hydrogel can be investigated further with other antibiotics for synergistic applications against pathogens. © 2018 American Scientific Publishers