Sustainable alginate hydrogel fibers reinforced with cotton and bamboo for high wound exudates

Hydrogels are highly attractive for quick wound healing. These are usually used in a layered structure and have poor mechanical properties which limit their commercial applications. In this work, the fiber form of alginate hydrogel in a combination with fibers of cotton and bamboo was prepared. This unique form of hydrogel fibers provided high flexibility with enhanced ability to absorb wound exudate. The composite hydrogel fibers with various weight percentages of reinforcement (cotton and bamboo) and sodium alginate concentrations were developed. The results revealed that the maximum elongation at break and exudate absorbency in the range of 8 %-14 % and 450 % respectively were achieved. Moreover, the moxifloxacin was loaded as a model drug in the optimized sample, and its release behavior was abrupt at the start that became steady with the passage of time. The drug release kinetics of moxifloxacin were studied using various kinetic models, revealing that the release data best fit a first-order kinetic model with an R² value of 0.971. The Korsmeyer–Peppas model, with an R² value of 0.973 and a release exponent (n) of 0.528, indicated an anomalous (non-Fickian) transport mechanism involving both diffusion and polymer relaxation governed the drug release process. The drug loaded fibers exhibited excellent antibacterial efficacy against S. aureus (Staphylococcus aureus) and E. coli (Escherichia coli), with an approximate halo of 20 and 15 mm respectively. Additionally, analysis of variance (ANOVA) demonstrated that all three input variables had a statistically momentous effect on mechanical behavior and absorbency, except for the effect of sodium alginate concentration on elongation at break. The results showed that composite hydrogel fibers loaded with moxifloxacin are an attractive choice for commercial wound dressings.