Document Type
Article
Publication Date
6-11-2026
Publication Source
MRS Communications
Abstract
Hydrogels offer attractive matrices for incorporating inorganic metal oxide nanoparticles (NPs) to generate multifunctional hybrid materials, but challenges remain in scalable synthesis and correlating their properties to bio-interaction. Therefore, we report the synthesis and characterization of poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (pHEMA) hydrogels, and pHEMA hydrogels encapsulating iron oxide or zinc oxide NPs, using a modified free-radical polymerization. Dose-dependent survivorship studies on Drosophila melanogaster revealed that both NP-embedded hydrogels are tolerated over a wide dose range (e.g., 50–200 mg), although ZnO NP-gels exhibit lower survivorship at some concentrations due to their inherent composition and a wider size distribution of iron oxide NPs.
ISBN/ISSN
2159-6867
Document Version
Published Version
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2026
Publisher
Springer Nature
Peer Reviewed
yes
Keywords
Nanostructure, Polymerization, Hybrid, Biological, Scanning electron microscopy, Thermogravimetric analysis
Sponsoring Agency
Intel Ohio-southwest Alliance on Semiconductors and Integrated Scalable Manufacturing (OASIS) grant
eCommons Citation
Rao, V., Cox, C., Clark, B. et al. Metal oxide nanoparticle-integrated pHEMA hydrogels: Morphology, chemical properties, and biological interaction. MRS Commun. (2026). https://doi.org/10.1557/s43579-026-00992-1
Supplemental Data (.docx)
Included in
Biology Commons, Biotechnology Commons, Cell and Developmental Biology Commons, Other Materials Science and Engineering Commons
Comments
SP thanks the Intel Ohio-southwest Alliance on Semiconductors and Integrated Scalable Manufacturing (OASIS) grant and the University of Dayton ISE-Corps summer program for support of this work.
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/s43579-026-00992-1