Preparation and Investigation on Swelling and Drug Delivery Properties of a Novel Silver/Salep-g-Poly(Acrylic Acid) Nanocomposite Hydrogel

Novel silver/salep-g-poly(acrylic acid) nanocomposite hydrogel were prepared in aqueous solution using poly(acrylic acid) grafted onto salep as a biopolymer based material. FT-IR spectra confirmed that poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) had been grafted onto salep in graft copolymerization reaction. TEM observations showed that silver nanoparticles have been uniformly dispersed in polymeric matrix. Effects of pH, acrylic acid (AA) amount and silver ion concentration on swelling capabilities were investigated. Results indicate that modifying AA and silver ion can improve swelling properties of the resultant nanocomposite hydrogel. pH response of this nanocomposite hydrogel in acidic and neutral pH made it suitable for drug delivery applications