Radiation induced graft copolymerization of graphene oxide and carbopol onto sterculia gum polysaccharide to develop hydrogels for biomedical applications

[Display omitted] •Graphene oxide impregnation improved drug loading and drug release from the hydrogels.•Ciprofloxacin release followed non-Fickian diffusion mechanism.•Release profile was best fitted Korsmeyer Peppas kinetic model.•Graphene oxide addition decreased mesh size of hydrogel.•Polymer showed three stage thermal degradation. In order to explore the potential of graphene oxide (GOx) in the field of biomedical applications, in the present work, GOx containing polymers were prepared using carbopol (CARBO) and sterculia gum (STRG) polysaccharide by graft-copolymerization method. These polymers were used for evaluation of the release profile of an antibiotic drug ciprofloxacin. The polymers were characterized by SEMs, XRD, FTIR, TGA, DTG and DSC techniques. It has been found that the presence of GOx in the polymer matrix has influenced various properties including drug loading and drug release. Both drug loading and drug release was improved in case of GOx containing polymer matrix. The release of the ciprofloxacin drug occurred in a controlled manner without burst effect and release profile followed the non-Fickian diffusion mechanism and it was best fitted in the Korsmeyer-Peppas kinetic release model.