Development of Novel Palm Resin – Poly(Acrylamide) Based Hydrogel Silver Nanocomposite for Antibacterial Activity

This investigation studies the antibacterial action of a novel palm resin – poly(acrylamide) based hydrogel silver nanocomposite. Palm resin-based semi-interpenetrating hydrogel networks (SIH) were synthesized through an improved free radical polymerization of acrylamide in the presence of palm resin using N,N-methylene bisacrylamide (MBA) as the cross-linker, ammonium persulphate (APS) as the initiator and N,N,N’,N’-tetramethyl ethylenediamine (TEMED) and heat as the activators for APS. In this one-pot preparation, SIH was formed in a short reaction time of 10 minutes. The formed SIH was converted into Hydrogel Silver Nanocomposite (HSN) by loading silver ions into the SIH matrix and reducing the silver ions to nanosilver with neem plant extract (Azadirachta Indica) as a green reducing agent. The formed HSN was probed with UV-Visible Diffused Reflectance Spectroscopy (UV-Vis DRS), Fourier Transform InfraRed (FT-IR) spectroscopy, High Resolution Scanning Electron Microscopy (HR-SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis, X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) study, and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The effect of time, silver nitrate concentration, and pH on the swelling behavior of HSN and its antibacterial activity were investigated. The antibacterial studies revealed that the prepared HSN significantly decreases bacterial growth. The strong hindrance of Ago-loaded hydrogel against bacterial growth and the ideal release of nanosilver into the bacterial culture makes the HSN appropriate for biomedical applications.