Balangu/Fe3O4/Ag2S/Polyurethane as an Innovative Bio-Nanocomposite Hydrogel: Synthesis, Characterization, Swelling and Drug Delivery Capacity

The primary interest of researchers from biology, physics, medicine, chemistry, industry, and material science towards nanotechnology is the most upgrading of production methods, especially those that are cleaner and simpler. This work investigates a new Balangu-based nanocomposite made from Balangu, polyurethane, iron oxide (Fe3O4) and silver sulfide (Ag2S) nanoparticles. The bio-nanocomposite was prepared by the synthesis of Fe3O4 and Ag2S nanoparticles on the Balangu matrix. Balangu is a natural and abundant, renewable polysaccharide, safe to use, non-toxic, hydrophilic, and biodegradable polymer. A mixture of Balangu/Fe3O4/Ag2S nanocomposite hydrogel and ethylene glycol was stirred at ambient temperature. After 2h, diphenyl methane diisocyanate was added and refluxed. The resulted product was filtered and washed thrice with deionized water. Subsequently, Balangu/Fe3O4/Ag2S/polyurethane nanocomposite was obtained by drying in the oven. This research was aimed at investigating the potential of this nanocomposite in drug delivery systems. Balangu/Fe3O4/Ag2S/polyurethane nanocomposite was synthesized using various Ag2S nanoparticle contents. The resulted bio-nanocomposite was evaluated by FT-IR, XRD, SEM, and TGA techniques. In vitro drug release experiments were performed to assess the efficacy of the developed nanocomposite in the controlled drug delivery systems. The Balangu/Fe3O4/Ag2S/polyurethane nanocomposite containing 0.01 M AgNO3 exhibited longer and better controlled drug release.