Highly stretchable and tough thermo-responsive double network (DN) hydrogels: Composed of PVA-borax and poly (AM-co-NIPAM) polymer networks

Synthesized double network (DN) hydrogels consisting of poly(vinyl alcohol)-borax (PVA-Borax) as the first network and poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-acrylamide) as the second network. The degree of swelling increases with the increasing amount of AM in the network. The lower critical solution temper...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:European polymer journal 2022-07, Vol.175, p.111347, Article 111347
Main Authors: Dixit, Akansha, Bag, Dibyendu S.
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Synthesized double network (DN) hydrogels consisting of poly(vinyl alcohol)-borax (PVA-Borax) as the first network and poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-acrylamide) as the second network. The degree of swelling increases with the increasing amount of AM in the network. The lower critical solution temperature (LCST) was increased with the incorporation of hydrophilic, AM monomer into the second network. The synthesized DN hydrogels exhibit excellent mechanical properties such as tensile and compressive strengths. The highest tensile strength of 1.36 MPa is observed for GNAM-5 hydrogel with 30% water content, whereas, the maximum compressive strength and fracture energy are observed for GNAM-3 with 30% WC which are 5.75 MPa and 36.72 MJ/m3, respectively. [Display omitted] •Synthesized double network (DN) hydrogels consisting of poly(vinyl alcohol)-borax (PVA-Borax) as the first network and poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-acrylamide) as the second network.•The degree of swelling increases with the increasing amount of AM in the network.•The lower critical solution temperature (LCST) was increased with the incorporation of hydrophilic AM monomer into the second network.•The synthesized DN hydrogels exhibit excellent mechanical properties such as tensile and compressive strengths.•The highest tensile strength of 1.36 MPa is observed for GNAM-5 hydrogel with 30% water content, whereas, the maximum compressive strength and fracture energy are observed for GNAM-3 with 30% WC which are 5.75 MPa and 36.72 MJ/m3, respectively. The development of polymeric double network (DN) hydrogels consisting of polyvinyl alcohol-borax (PVA-Borax), poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) and poly(acrylamide) are encouraging to utilize them in many applications like as soft materials for biomedical and other applications due to their unique characteristics such as stretchability, toughness, thermo-responsiveness, resilient and self-healing property. The DN hydrogels are hydrophilic in nature and also soft smart materials that have higher capability to absorb water and also, they respond external stimuli such as temperature, pressure and chemical trigging. Thus, DN hydrogels of PVA-Borax as the first network and poly (NIPAM-co-AM) as the second network are prepared and characterized. Synthesized DN hydrogels are sensitive to temperature by introducing the temperature sensitive polymer, poly (NIPAM) into the network. Poly (AM) is used for high swelling and the stiffness improvement. The degree of swel
ISSN:0014-3057
1873-1945
DOI:10.1016/j.eurpolymj.2022.111347