Preparation and Characterization of Chitosan/Polyvinyl Alcohol/Zinc Gluconate Hydrogel: Antibacterial and Zinc Ion Release

Zinc ions, as essential trace elements in the human body, play a crucial role in promoting wound healing. They have significant applications in the medical field. In this paper, chitosan (CS)/polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/zinc gluconate hydrogel was synthesized via gamma ray irradiation cross-linking. The hydrogel exhibited excellent antibacterial properties, and could continuously release zinc ions. Antibacterial assays demonstrated that the combination of CS and zinc ions improved the antibacterial properties of hydrogel. The inhibition zones against both <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> and <i>Escherichia coli</i> exceed 12 mm. The cell viability can reach 108.25%. The prepared hydrogel could continuously release zinc ions over a period of 70 h. The pore and chemical structure were, respectively, performed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). And its comprehensive properties, such as gel content, water evaporation ratio and swelling behavior were investigated. The hydrogels showed potential application value in the hydrogel dressing for zinc ion delivery.