Infections are frequent and very undesired occurrences after orthopedic procedures; furthermore, the growing concern caused by the rise in antibiotic resistance is progressively dwindling the efficacy of such drugs. Artificial bone graft materials could solve some of the problems associated with the gold standard use of natural bone graft such as limited bone material, pain at the donor site and rejections if donor tissue is used. We have previously described new acrylate base nanocomposite hydrogels as bone graft materials. In the present paper, we describe the integration of silver nanoparticles in the polymeric mineralized biomaterial to provide non-antibiotic antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus epidermidis and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Two different crosslinking degrees were tested and the silver nanoparticles were integrated into the composite matrix by means of three different methods: entrapment in the polymeric hydrogel before the mineralization; diffusion during the process of calcium phosphate crystallization and adsorption post-mineralization. The latter being generally the most effective method of encapsulation; however, the adsorption of silver nanoparticles inside the pores of the biomaterial led to a decreasing antibacterial activity for adsorption time longer than 2 days.

Herein, a novel electrochemical glucose biosensor based on glucose oxidase (GOx) immobilized on a surface containing platinum nanoparticles (PtNPs) electrodeposited on poly(Azure A) (PAA) previously electropolymerized on activated screen-printed carbon electrodes (GOx-PtNPs-PAA-aSPCEs) is reported. The resulting electrochemical biosensor was validated towards glucose oxidation in real samples and further electrochemical measurement associated with the generated H₂O₂. The electrochemical biosensor showed an excellent sensitivity (42.7 μA mM⁻¹ cm⁻²), limit of detection (7.6 μM), linear range (20 μM–2.3 mM), and good selectivity towards glucose determination. Furthermore, and most importantly, the detection of glucose was performed at a low potential (0.2 V vs. Ag). The high performance of the electrochemical biosensor was explained through surface exploration using field emission SEM, XPS, and impedance measurements. The electrochemical biosensor was successfully applied to glucose quantification in several real samples (commercial juices and a plant cell culture medium), exhibiting a high accuracy when compared with a classical spectrophotometric method. This electrochemical biosensor can be easily prepared and opens up a good alternative in the development of new sensitive glucose sensors.