Preparation and Characterization of Polyvinyl Alcohol‐Chitosan/Cerium‐Nanocellulose Hydrogel for Medical Dressing Application

Abstract Medical dressings require good antibacterial and mechanical properties. Polyvinyl alcohol based medical dressings are commercially available, and the antimicrobial properties of chitosan and cerium ions are known, and nanocellulose possesses excellent comprehensive properties, such as non‐toxicity, biocompatibility, and biodegradability. In this study, polyvinyl alcohol‐chitosan/cerium‐nanocellulose (PVA‐Cs/Ce‐CNF) composite hydrogels are prepared by a freeze‐thaw method and characterized by scanning electron microscope and X‐ray diffraction. It is expected to improve antibacterial activity of the composite hydrogels by adding a small amount of cerium, and their biological activity will not be affected. In addition, the effects of chitosan/cerium (Cs/Ce) complexes and nanocellulose with different contents on properties are investigated. The results show that PVA‐Cs/Ce‐CNF composite hydrogels have a 3D, highly porous structure with distributed pores of 8–30µm, good skin viscosity, efficient ability to absorb fluid, and suitable water vapor transmission rate of 2000—2500 g m −2 day −1 . Two hydrogels in specific ratio show good strong tensile strength of 132.6 and 130.1 kPa respectively, and their elongation at break are over 400%. The PVA‐Cs/Ce‐CNF composite hydrogels are non‐toxic, and they have inhibitory effect on Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus . These results suggest that the PVA‐Cs/Ce‐CNF composite hydrogels have great potential as medical dressings.