Chem. J. Chinese Universities ›› 2021, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (6): 2024.doi: 10.7503/cjcu20200722

• Polymer Chemistry • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Facile Synthesis and Properties of Robust and Anti-swelling Hydrogels

LUO Chunhui1,2(), ZHAO Yufei1   

  1. 1.School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
    2.Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering and Technology,State Ethnic Affairs Commission,North Minzu University,Yinchuan 750021,China
  • Received:2020-09-29 Online:2021-06-10 Published:2021-06-08
  • Contact: LUO Chunhui E-mail:luochunhui@iccas.ac.cn

Abstract:

Robust and anti-swelling hydrogels based on commercial available polyvinyl alcohol(PVA) and chitosan(CS) were prepared via freezing-thawing cycle to prepare the precursor PVA-CS hydrogel firstly, followed by soaking in sodium chloride aqueous solution and dialysis against water to obtain the resultant PVA-CS-6.16-30 hydrogel. The microstructures of the two hydrogels were characterized, and their mechanical pro-perties were evaluated. Due to the multiple interactions of hydrogen bonding, crystalline region and chain entanglement, the obtained PVA-CS-6.16-30 hydrogel dissipated external energy more effectively. Compared with the precursor PVA-CS hydrogel, the free water content and mesh size of the resultant hydrogel declined from 62.8% and 6.11 to 52.6% and 5.21 nm, respectively. In contrast, the gel fraction, cross-linking density and crystalline degree of PVA increased from 58.6%, 7.69×10-4 and 14.8% to 86.8%, 9.97×10-4 mol/cm3 and 17.2%, respectively. Benefited from the higher cross-linking density and more homogeneous gel framework, the tensile strength, elongation at break, toughness as well as compressive stress of the resultant hydrogel increased to 2.9 MPa, 229%, 3.3 MJ/m3 and 7.6 MPa, respectively. Furthermore, it exhibited excellent anti-swelling and creep-resistant abilities. The resultant hydrogel maintained its original shapes and mechanical properties(tensile and compressive strength were 2.8 and 7.5 MPa, respectively) even after soaking in PBS aqueous solution for 7 d at 37 ℃. We hope that the full-fledged starting material, easy-operated process and balanced properties of the resultant hydrogel will promote the development of tissue engineering and biomedical materials for commercial applications.

Key words: Hydrogel, Non-swellable property, High strength, Facile synthesis

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