Self‐Assembled Supramolecular Hybrid Hydrogel Beads Loaded with Silver Nanoparticles for Antimicrobial Applications

This Full Paper reports the formation of silver (Ag) NPs within spatially resolved two‐component hydrogel beads, which combine a low‐molecular‐weight gelator (LMWG) DBS‐CONHNH(2) and a polymer gelator (PG) calcium alginate. The AgNPs are formed through in situ reduction of Ag(I), with the resulting nanoparticle‐loaded gels being characterised in detail. The antibacterial activity of the nanocomposite gel beads was tested against two drug‐resistant bacterial strains, often associated with hospital‐acquired infections: vancomycin‐resistant Enterococcus faecium (VRE) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA14), and the AgNP‐loaded gels showed good antimicrobial properties against both types of bacteria. It is suggested that the gel bead format of these AgNP‐loaded hybrid hydrogels makes them promising versatile materials for potential applications in orthopaedics or wound healing.