Self-healing, injectable chitosan-based graphene oxide-silver nanoparticles composite hydrogel exhibiting superior...

With the rapid and widespread emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, the development of novel and highly effective antibacterial strategies has become an urgent imperative. Graphene oxide‑silver nanoparticle composites (GOAg) represent a class of promising inorganic nano-antibacterial materials. However, GOAg rapidly undergoes aggregation in saline- or protein-containing physiological media, which severely hampers its antibacterial applications. Therefore, identifying an appropriate carrier for GOAg immobilization is urgently needed. In this study, a carboxymethyl chitosan-aldehyde sodium alginate (CMCS-ASA) hydrogel was employed as a matrix to encapsulate GOAg, thereby fabricating a CMCS-ASA-GOAg composite hydrogel. Comprehensive characterization demonstrated that the resulting composite hydrogel exhibited favorable swelling capacity, water-retention ability, injectability, self-healing performance, and optical transparency. Moreover, the hydrogel showed high drug encapsulation efficiency, appreciable loading capacity, and sustained-release behavior, enabling the continuous release of Ag⁺ for up to 27 days. The CMCS-ASA-GOAg composite hydrogel also exhibited excellent antibacterial activity and satisfactory biocompatibility. When the GOAg concentration reached 40 μg/mL, both the surface and interior of the hydrogel achieved bactericidal efficiencies exceeding 95% against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, while showing no obvious cytotoxicity toward mouse embryonic fibroblast cells. Collectively, these findings provide a new strategy and valuable reference for expanding the antibacterial applications of graphene-based nanomaterials.