?-radiation induced synthesis of antibacterial silver nanocomposite scaffolds derived from natural gum Boswellia serrata

This paper introduces a novel approach for the fabrication of antibacterial silver nanocomposite scaffolds using the plant gum exudate of Boswellia serrate. The fabrication of the nanocomposites was done through the formation of semi-IPN (Bs-cl-polyAAm-Gm) and IPN (Bs-cl-polyAAm-IPN-AA-Gm) matrices under the impact of high energy γ-radiations. The γ-radiations induced in-situ reduction of Ag+ ions into Ag0 nanoparticles also limits the use of chemical reducing agents and adds novelty to the present study. The semi-IPN and IPN were found to uptake 8574% and 4493% water in comparison to their initial dry weight in the basic medium at 80 °C. The biodegradability analysis of the semi-IPN and IPN suggested 73% and 61% degradation in garden soil and 75% and 64% degradation in bio-compost, respectively after 70 days of time interval. The average particle size was found to be 11.3 nm and 8.6 nm in case of Ag0/Bs-cl-polyAAm-Gm and Ag0/Bs-cl-polyAAm-IPN-AA-Gm, respectively. The antibacterial assay suggested that both the nanocomposite scaffolds possessed sufficient antibacterial potential against different bacterial strains including P. aeruginosa, S. aureus, B. cereus, and E. coli. The promising fluid absorptivity, biodegradability and antibacterial activity of the hydrogel nanocomposite scaffolds suggested their applicability towards biomedical applications. © 2020 Elsevier B.V.