Mechanical Properties of Alginate Based Biopolymers as Wound Dressing Material

Abstract

The utilization of biopolymers has been widely accepted in many areas due to its eco-friendly. Especially in medical care, biopolymers are receiving great attention and are considered as a potential for wound healing. Wound dressing material is one of medical needs and the demand continue to raise. One of the most widely used biopolymers for wound dressing is alginate. To improve alginate properties as wound dressing material, various alginate modifications with nanoparticles or synthetic polymers have been developed. In this paper alginate biopolymer will be modified with ZnO nanoparticles and synthetic polymer, such as poly (ethylene glycol) dimethacrylate (PEGDMA) as one of the candidates of wound dressing material. Alginate can go through swelling and because of its crystallinity is low so that it affects its mechanical properties. In order to increase the compatibility, ZnO needs to be modified with PEGDMA which is crosslink with alginate to strengthen the bonding network of materials. Characterization of alginate-based wound dressing material was performed using FTIR, XRD and SEM. In addition, optimization tests of mechanical and antibacterial resistance properties were performed to meet detailed studies of the effect of ZnO nanoparticles and PEGDMA interpenetrated into alginate to the properties of the wound dressing material.