Silver sulfadiazine (AgSD) belongs to the class of sulfonamides, a broad spectrum antibiotic. However, topically AgSD has limited bioavailability, less solubility and poor penetration. Consequently, we have prepared functionalized sepiolite (F-SEP) incorporating chitosan (CS) and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) hydrogels for improved AgSD delivery and wound dressing applications. In 30 hours, 81.27% of the drug was released which is superior from numerous studies and depicted best fit for Korsmyer-Peppas model (R2-0.978). The biodegradable and pH responsive CS/PEG/F-SEP hydrogel platform could be a valuable choice for sustained delivery of AgSD and therapeutic payloads for development of efficient dressings for healing wounds.

Five hydrogels were prepared coded below: SAR(cont) = Chitosan (0.5g)+ PEG (0.5g) + F-SEP (0.0 mg) SAR-5 = Chitosan (0.5g)+ PEG (0.5g) + F-SEP (5.0 mg) SAR-10 = Chitosan (0.5g)+ PEG (0.5g) + F-SEP (10.0 mg) SAR-15 = Chitosan (0.5g)+ PEG (0.5g) + F-SEP (15.0 mg) SAR-20 = Chitosan (0.5g)+ PEG (0.5g) + F-SEP (20.0 mg) DSAR-15 = Chitosan (0.5g)+ PEG (0.5g) + F-SEP (15.0 mg) + AgSD (100.0 mg)

Firstly, sepilite clay was functionalized using 3-aminopropyl(triethoxy)silane (APTS) cross-linker. Subsequently, chitosan, PEG, functionalized sepilite (F-SEP) were used to prepare hydrogels using solution casting technique. The data was collected by the synthesis, characterization and analysis of hydrogels.

Further, the data was acquired from IR, TGA, swelling analysis (in distilled water, buffer/non-buffer and ionic solutions), cell viability assay,shore A hardness, encapsulation efficacy, AgSD release and release kinetics.