Photopatterned salecan composite hydrogel reinforced with α-Mo₂C nanoparticles for cell adhesion

Salecan, a water-soluble extracellular β-glucan, has emerged as a promising candidate for preparing hydrogel biomaterials recently. Herein, photo cross linked composite hydrogels, composed by salecan/poly (N-tert-butylacrylamide-co-acrylamide) network andα-Mo₂C nanoparticles were prepared by ultraviolet (UV) light, using Irgacue 2959 as photo initiator. The XRD and EDX analysis illustrated the presence of embeddedα-Mo₂C nanoparticles throughout the hydrogel matrix. Compression tests and thermal analysis revealed that the incorporation of α-Mo₂C nanoparticles enhanced mechanical strength and thermal stability due to the structural reinforcement of the composite hydrogels. Moreover, the change of salecan content provided a mean to tailor both the swelling property and morphology of the composite hydrogels. Encapsulation of L929 and 3T3-L1 cells and the following viability test showed the excellent cell-compatibility of these hydrogels. Taken together, these studies support the use of photo crosslinked composite hydrogels as tunable biomaterials for cell adhesion.