Preparation of bactericidal zinc oxide nanoparticles loaded carboxymethyl cellulose/polyethylene glycol cryogel for gap filling of archaeological bones

Gaps and holes derived from different sources represent a major problem for archaeological bone artifacts, as they lead to their weakness. Cryogel materials have become vital in various scientific applications due to their multiple advantages such as their lightweight, mechanical and chemical stability, etc. This current study aimed to design, evaluate and apply a unique porous structure of carboxymethyl cellulose cryogel loaded with zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) as a new technique for gap filling of archaeological bone artifacts. The cryogel was formed by blending carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), polyethylene glycol PEG), and Cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) with different concentrations of ZnO NPs. This current study proved that the addition of ZnO NPs especially with high concentration to cryogels improved the appearance of the surface morphology, reduced the high surface area, gave less activity towards swelling, increased the hydrothermal stability and mechanical characteristics, and gave good resistance against studied bacteria and yeast. From, the obtained results, it can be concluded that the cryogel loaded with ZnO NPs is suitable to fill gaps and cracks of archaeological bones.