# Polysaccharide Hydrogels Doped with MXenes for Possible Biomedical Applications

## TL;DR

This paper explores combining MXenes with polysaccharide hydrogels to create materials suitable for biomedical uses, showing how different drying methods affect their properties.

## Contribution

The study introduces polysaccharide-based MXene hydrogels and demonstrates how dehydration methods influence their structure and functionality.

## Key findings

- Conventionally dried hydrogels with 1.0% MXene reduced swelling and volume change by ~60% and 40%, respectively.
- Freeze-dried hydrogels formed porous networks suitable for adsorption and tissue engineering.
- Drying methods significantly affect microstructure, water states, and mechanical properties of the composite.

## Abstract

MXenes, a new family of two-dimensional transition-metal carbides and nitrides, have attracted significant interest in biomedicine because of their tunable surface groups and multifunctional properties. Hydrogels, with their three-dimensional polymeric networks rich in water, provide excellent biocompatibility and structural similarity to those of biological tissues. Although synthetic polymer–based MXene hydrogels are well studied, polysaccharide-based systems remain underexplored despite their biodegradability and biomedical relevance. In this work, MXene nanosheets were incorporated into a sodium alginate (ALG)–gellan gum (GG) polymeric blend to develop polysaccharide/MXene hydrogels. Two dehydration approaches, conventional drying and freeze-drying were used to evaluate their influence on the characteristics of the composite, including microstructure, surface roughness, compressive behavior, water states, and thermal stability. Conventionally dried polysaccharide/MXene nanocomposites with 1.0% wt. MXene have reduced the swelling ratio by ~60% and the volume change by 40% compared to polysaccharide blend. Freeze-dried polysaccharide/MXene nanocomposite hydrogels developed a porous, interconnected network, making them promising for applications requiring high surface area, such as adsorption and tissue engineering. In contrast, conventionally dried samples formed compact, smooth structures with improved barrier and mechanical performance. These results demonstrate that the dehydration strategy strongly governs the polymer network architecture, water states, and material functionality, offering pathways to tailor hydrogel modified with MXene for specific biomedical applications.