Synthesis of 3-Dimensional Chitosan/Carboxymethyl Cellulose/ZnO Biopolymer Hybrids by Ionotropic Gelation for Application in Drug Delivery

Chitosan (CS) and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), as ecofriendly biopolymers, were self-assembled to form a 3-dimensional network and a hybrid material with ZnO nanoparticles (ZnO-CMC/CaCl2/CS). The designed system was used as a carrier for in-vitro release of 5-fluorouracil drug. The drug loading capacity and entrapment efficiency were investigated. Swelling behavior of the prepared systems and the cumulative release of the drug were studied at different concentrations of the raw materials at pH values of 2.1 and 7.4, which was emulated to the human gastrointestinal medium. The release kinetic data were fitted using the Korsmeyer-Peppas model to identify the diffusion mechanism. The prepared copolymers were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM).