Effect of zinc content on structural, functional, morphological, and thermal properties of kappa-carrageenan/NaCMC nanocomposites

Abstract

This study was aimed to produce a novel nanocomposite with appropriate properties to apply in biomedical researches. MgO was used as a control sample in the experiments. A series of Mg1-xZnxO nanoparticles with x = 0.01 and 0.03, were prepared by the sol-gel method and added to k-carrageenan/NaCMC to produce MgO, Mg0.99Zn0.01O, and Mg0.97Zn0.03O/k-carrageenan/NaCMC hydrogels. The structural properties were systematically investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Swelling ratio %, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM), Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (TGA), and Compression test. The FESEM analysis showed that the doping of ‘Zn’ in MgO had a strong effect on morphology and crystallinity of MgO nanoparticles. The MgO nanocomposite had the lowest swelling ratio. The swelling started to increase at 3.37±0.95% and was found to finish at 3.81±0.26%, including a peak at 22.1±6.76% in the graph. The highest swelling ratio was attributed to Mg0.99Zn0.01O with the final ratio of 44.15±1.98%. The TGA analysis revealed that total weight loss of MgOnanocomposite wasgreater than Mg0.99Zn0.01O, and Mg0.97Zn0.03O. The compression test of the nanocomposites showed that the hardness of MgO nanocomposite was the highest and it was 89.75±9.19 (g), the springiness of Mg0.99Zn0.01O and Mg0.97Zn0.03O was the same and it was 10 (mm), the adhesion of Mg0.97Zn0.03O showed-0.848±0.29 that was highest, however the consistency of Mg0.99Zn0.01O showed 392.90±3.48 (g. sec).