I made a gelatin hydrogel with zinc oxide nanoparticles in it. I immersed it in phosphate buffer solution ph 7.4 and incubated at 37°C. Initially I added 200mg of the hydrogel but by the end of 40 minutes, it reduced to 10mg. Is it possible for the degradation to happen so fast? If so can I get any references to how that happened?
Hi Saisruti,
Did you check for thermal stability of the gelatin hydrogel alone before incorporating the zinc oxide nanoparticles? Normally, self-assembled gelatin hydrogel isn't thermally stable at temp 35 and above. Therefore, gelatin hydrogels are often crosslinked to induce the stability.
@Ashang Luwang Laiva I haven't done that sir but my gelatin+nZnO hydrogel is stable at room temperature. I didn't use a crosslinker in the making.
Hi Saisruti,
I believe you would need to first identify a crosslinking strategy to improve the thermal stability of the gelatin hydrogel. Gelatin hydrogel as itself will not hold at higher temperatures. Sometimes the addition of inorganic nanoparticles tends to interfere with crosslinking by probably blocking or pre-occupying the crosslinking sites. Thermal excitation of these nanoparticles could be another reason that led to excessive degradation of your gelatin hydrogel.
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