A Composite Hydrogel of Porous Gold Nanorods and Gelatin: Nanoscale Structure and Rheo-Mechanical Properties

TL;DR

This study explores how incorporating porous gold nanorods into gelatin hydrogels affects their nanoscale structure and rheo-mechanical properties, enabling tailored biomedical applications through controlled structural modulation.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the nanoscale structural control of composite hydrogels and correlates these structures with their mechanical properties for biomedical use.

Findings

Incorporation of PAuNRs decreases the fractal dimension of the hydrogel matrix.

Adding PAuNRs softens the hydrogel, reducing viscoelastic moduli and yield strain.

Structural adjustments via PAuNR concentration and temperature enable property tuning.

Abstract

Incorporating nanomaterials into hydrogels allows for the creation of versatile materials with properties that can be precisely tailored by manipulating their nanoscale structures, leading to a wide range of bulk properties. Investigating the structural and property characteristics of composite hydrogels is crucial in tailoring their performance for specific applications. This study focuses on investigating the correlation between the structural arrangement and properties of a composite hydrogel of thermoresponsive polymer, gelatin, and light-responsive antimicrobial porous gold nanorods, $PAuNR$. The rheo-mechanical properties of the composite hydrogels are correlated with their nanoscale structural characteristics, investigated using small-angle neutron scattering ($SANS$). Analysis of $SANS$ data reveals a decrease in the fractal dimension of $PAuNRs$ incorporated hydrogel matrix, as compared to pure gelatin. Incorporating $PAuNRs$ results in formation of softer composite hydrogel as evident from decrease in viscoelastic moduli, critical yield strain, denaturation temperature and swelling ratio. Our results demonstrates that the structural modulation at the nanoscale can be precisely controlled through adjusting $PAuNRs$ concentration and temperature providing an fabrication mechanism for hydrogels with desired elastic properties. The reduced elasticity of the composite hydrogel and light sensitive/antimicrobial property of the $PAuNRs$ makes this system suitable for specific biomedical applications, such as tissue engineering, device fabrication and stimuli based controlled drug delivery devices respectively.