Sains Malaysiana 44(6)(2015): 793–799

Effect of Cellulose Nanocrystals Content and pH on Swelling Behaviour of Gelatin Based Hydrogel

(Kesan Kandungan Selulosa Nanohablur dan pH terhadap Sifat Pembengkakan Hidrogel yang Berasaskan Gelatin)

OOI SHOK YIN¹, ISHAK AHMAD¹* & MOHD CAIRUL IQBAL MOHD AMIN²

¹Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

43600 Bangi, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia

²Faculty of Pharmacy, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz

50300 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Received: 15 January 2014/Accepted: 15 November 2014

ABSTRACT

In this research, a novel method was performed to obtain hydrogel with superior thermal stability by incorporation of cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) into gelatin based hydrogel. Glutaraldehyde was used as cross-linker due to its high chemical reactivity towards NH2 group on gelatin. Different ratio of gelatin/CNC hydrogel was produced in order to study the effects of CNC towards the swelling behaviour and thermal stability of gelatin based hydrogel. The obtained hydrogel was subjected to Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) to verify that gelatin had been cross-linked, swelling test with different pH for swelling behaviour and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) for thermal stability. The presence of C=N stretching group in the FTIR spectrum for gelatin/CNC hydrogel indicated that the cross-linking reaction between gelatin monomer had been successfully carried out. The hydrogel showed impressive pH sensitivity and maximum swelling was obtained at pH₃. The TGA results clearly showed that the incorporation of CNC into gelatin was able to produce hydrogel with higher thermal stability compare to neat gelatin.

Keywords: Cellulose nanocrystals; cross-linking; gelatin; hydrogel; swelling behavior

ABSTRAK

Dalam kajian ini, kaedah baru telah digunakan untuk menghasilkan hidrogel yang mempunyai kestabilan terma yang lebih tinggi dengan penambahan selulosa nanohablur (CNC) ke dalam hidrogel yang berasaskan gelatin. Glutaraldehid telah dipilih sebagai agen taut silang bagi mentaut silangkan gelatin disebabkan ia mempunyai kereaktifan kimia yang tinggi terhadap kumpulan NH2 pada gelatin. Hidrogel gelatin/CNC dengan nisbah yang berbeza telah dihasilkan untuk mengkaji kesan penambahan CNC terhadap sifat pembengkakan dan kestabilan terma hidrogel. Hidrogel yang dihasilkan telah dicirikan dengan menggunakan transformasi Fourier inframerah (FTIR) untuk mengesahkan terdapat tindak balas taut silang antara monomer gelatin. Ujian pembengkakan pula dijalankan untuk mengkaji sifat pembengkakan hidrogel pada pH yang berbeza manakala analisis termogravimetri (TGA) pula digunakan untuk mengkaji kestabilan terma hidrogel yang dihasilkan. Kewujudan puncak regangan kumpulan C=N pada spektrum FTIR menunjukkan bahawa monomer gelatin telah berjaya ditaut silangkan. Hasil kajian menunjukkan bahawa hidrogel yang dihasilkan mempunyai sensitiviti yang baik terhadap pH dan hidrogel mencapai nisbah pembengkakan maksimum pada pH3. Analisis TGA pula menunjukkan penambahan CNC ke dalam hidrogel telah meningkatkan kestabilan terma hidrogel.

Kata kunci: Gelatin; hidrogel; selulosa nanohablur; sifat pembengkakan; taut silang

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*Corresponding author; email: gading@ukm.edu.my