Advanced Rheology Institute, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China.
Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co., Ltd., Shanghai, 200051, China.
Carbohydr Polym. 2020 Feb 15;230:115578. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2019.115578. Epub 2019 Nov 7.
The present work deals with a new type of hybrid polysaccharide-silica hydrogel fabricated by the sol-gel process in which a completely water-soluble precursor of tetrakis-(2-hydroxyethyl) orthosilicates (THEOS) and a biocompatible polysaccharide of carboxymethylated curdlan (CMCD) have been used. The kinetic gelation process, mechanical properties and morphological structures of hybrid silica hydrogels at different concentrations of CMCD and THEOS were investigated by dynamic rheology, compression testing and scanning electron microscopy. CMCD was found to be served as a catalyst and template in the sol-gel process of THEOS in water. The mechanical strength of the resulting silica gels was tunable by the modulation of either the concentration of CMCD or THEOS. Higher content of THEOS and CMCD resulted in stiffer gels. Due to the tunable mechanical property and good biocompatibility, these hybrid hydrogels are promising for the applications as drug release systems in biomedical fields.
本工作涉及一种新型的杂化多糖-二氧化硅水凝胶，通过溶胶-凝胶过程制备，其中使用了完全水溶性的四（2-羟乙基）原硅酸酯（THEOS）前体和生物相容的羧甲基化环糊精（CMCD）多糖。通过动态流变学、压缩测试和扫描电子显微镜研究了不同 CMCD 和 THEOS 浓度下杂化二氧化硅水凝胶的动力学凝胶化过程、力学性能和形态结构。CMCD 在水相中的 THEOS 溶胶-凝胶过程中起到了催化剂和模板的作用。所得二氧化硅凝胶的机械强度可以通过调节 CMCD 或 THEOS 的浓度来进行调控。THEOS 和 CMCD 的含量越高，得到的凝胶越硬。由于其可调的机械性能和良好的生物相容性，这些杂化水凝胶有望在生物医药领域用作药物释放系统。
