Sharif Digital Repository

Acrylamide (AAm) monomer was directly grafted onto chitosan using ammonium persulfate (APS) as an initiator and methylenebisacrylamide (MBA) as a crosslinking agent under an inert atmosphere. Two factors affecting the swelling capacity of the obtained hydrogel, AAm and MBA concentrations, were studied. The polymer structures were characterized by FTIR spectroscopy. Water absorbencies of the hydrogels were compared between before and after the alkaline hydrolysis treatment. Saponification of chitosan-g-poly(acrylamide) (chitosan-g-PAAm) with a hot sodium hydroxide solution gave rise to a high water absorbency. Swelling of the hydrogel samples in saline solution (0.15 mol/L NaCl, CaCl2 and... 

A novel full-polysaccharide superabsorbent hydrogel was synthesized via chemical crosslinking of carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) and sodium alginate (Alg) using epichlorohydrine (ECH) as a crosslinker. A proposed mechanism for hydrogel formation was suggested and the structure of the product was established using FTIR spectroscopy. The influence of ECH concentration and Alg/CMC weight ratio as well as reaction time and temperature on water and saline (0.9 wt% NaCl) absorbency of the hydrogels were systematically investigated. Meanwhile, the overall activation energy for the crosslinking reaction between CMC and Alg polysaccharides was estimated to be 11.6 kj/mol. Under the optimised conditions... 

This article describes the synthesis and swelling properties of a superabsorbing hydrogel composite based on collagen. The composite have been prepared via graft copolymerization of acrylic acid (AA) in the presence of kaolin powder using methylenebisacrylamide (MBA) as a crosslinking agent and ammonium persulfate (APS) as an initiator. The certain variables of the graft copolymerization (i.e. the monomer, the initiator, and the crosslinker concentration as well as kaolin/collagen weight ratio) affected on the ultimate water-swelling capacity were optimized. Evidence of grafting and kaolin interaction was obtained by comparison of FTIR spectra of initial substrates and superabsorbent... 

A novel pH-responsive superabsorbing hydrogel based on κ-carrageenan (κC) was prepared through polyacrylamide crosslinking grafting followed by alkaline hydrolysis. The hydrogel structure was confirmed using FT-IR spectroscopy. The hydrolysis conditions were systematically optimized to obtain a hydrogel with maximum swelling capacity. Thus, the reaction variables, including the hydrolysis time and temperature, concentration of sodium hydroxide, amount of hydrogel hydrolyzed and post-neutralization pH, were optimized. The swelling measurements of the hydrogels were conducted in 0.15 M aqueous solutions of LiCl, NaCl, KCl, CaCl2 and AlCl3. As observed for the hydrolyzed hydrogel (H-carragPAM),... 

Graft copolymerization of mixtures of acrylic acid (AA) and acrylamide (AAm) onto chitosan was carried out by using potassium persulfate (KPS) as a free radical initiator in the presence of methylenebisacrylamide (MBA) as a crosslinker. The effect of reaction variables, such as MBA concentration and AA/AAm ratio on the water absorbency capacity have been investigated. The polymer structures were confirmed by FTIR spectroscopy. Water absorbencies were compared for the hydrogels before and after alkaline hydrolysis. In the non-hydrolyzed hydrogel, enhanced water absorbency was obtained with increasing AA in monomer feed. However, after saponification, the sample with high AAm ratio exhibited... 

A novel biopolymer-based superabsorbent hydrogel was synthesized through chemically crosslinking graft copolymerization of acrylic acid (AA) onto kappa-carrageenan (κC), in the presence of a crosslinking agent and a free radical initiator. A proposed mechanism for κC-g-polyacrylic acid was suggested and the affecting variables onto graft polymerization (i.e. the crosslinker, the monomer and the initiator concentration, the neutralization percent and reaction temperature) were systematically optimized to achieve a hydrogel with swelling capacity as high as possible. Maximum water absorbency of the optimized final product was found to be 789 g/g. The swelling capacity of the synthesized... 

Two series of alkali hydrolyzed starch-g-polyacrylonitrile (H-SPAN) superabsorbents were prepared from granular and gelatinized corn starches. The grafting parameters of SPAN copolymers were determined and the polymers were analyzed by FTIR spectroscopy. A combination of three influencing factors (i.e. thermal pre-treatment of the initial starch, presence or absence of oxygen in the stage of ceric-initiated PAN grafting, and neutralization after alkali treatment) on swelling characteristics of the final hydrogel was evaluated in a practical viewpoint. The superabsorbents were discriminated according to their swelling behavior in water and different aqueous salt solutions. The swelling... 

Bacterial infection is one of the biggest challenges in wound healing and imposes enormous burden on patient and medical system. Moreover, multidrug resistant microorganisms (MDR) limit the usage of therapeutic agents including antibiotics for wound treatment. Hydrogels are three-dimensional networks that have emerged as efficient scaffolds for the treatment of infected wounds. In addition to their intrinsic antibacterial activities, hydrogels are able to load and release therapeutic agents to keep the efficient dose during wound healing process. At the same lines, incorporation of metal nanoparticles (NPs) into hydrogels boosts their antibacterial activity. Moreover, photothermal agents... 

Extrusion-based three-dimensional (3D) printing has recently become a major field that provides significant benefits, as it is principally employed to fabricate 3D scaffolds, exploiting soft biomaterials. The 3D printing hydrogel-based ink requires crucial properties, such as printability and printing fidelity to fabricate the appropriate structure. However, it typically uses trial and error techniques to achieve a three-dimensional structure, which wastes material and time. This study employed multiphysics simulation to predicate the potential printability of chitosan hydrogel as a desirable biomaterial used in tissue engineering. The flow was presumed to be laminar and two-phased in the... 

Gelation time and degradation rate of thermally-sensitive aqueous solutions of chitosan/Gp (glycerophosphate disodium salt) have been studied. The effects of different parameters such as Gp salt concentration, solution temperature, degree of deacetylation of chitosan (DDA) and drug loading on the gelation time have been investigated. Gravimetric analysis, gel permeation chromatography and FTIR spectrophotometry were used to investigate the influence of the DDA and concentration of chitosan solution on hydrogel degradation. The presented results indicated that gelation time decreases by increasing Gp salt concentration, temperature, concentration and DDA of chitosan solutions, while drug... 

This article describes the synthesis and swelling behavior of a superabsorbing hydrogel based on sodium alginate (NaAlg) and polyacrylonitrile (PAN). The physical mixture of NaAlg and PAN was hydrolyzed with a solution of NaOH to yield an alginate-poly(sodium acrylate-co-acrylamide) [Alg-poly(NaAA-co-AAm)] superabsorbent hydrogel. A proposed mechanism for hydrogel formation was suggested, and the structure of the product was established with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The effects of reaction variables were systematically optimized to achieve a hydrogel with a swelling capacity as high as possible. Under the optimized conditions concluded, the maximum capacity of swelling in... 

Hydrogel hybrids were conveniently prepared from alkaline hydrolysis of chitosan-poly(acrylonitrile) mixture under highly practical conditions. The reaction of chitosan alkoxide anions with nitrile groups of poly(acrylonitrile) (PAN) forms crosslinking points and results in a three-dimensional network with superswelling ability in aqueous media. The hydrogel hybrid was identified using FTIR spectroscopy. The PAN content of the hydrolyzing feed affects proportionally the swelling capacity of the hydrogel hybrid. The swelling properties (capacity and rate) of the ampholytic hydrogel were investigated preliminarily. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc  

To synthesize a novel biopolymer-based superabsorbent hydrogel, 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropanesulfonic acid (AMPS) was grafted onto kappa-carrageenan (ΚC) backbones. The graft copolymerization reaction was carried out in a homogeneous medium and in the presence of ammonium persulfate (APS) as an initiator, N,N,N′,N′-tetramethyl ethylenediamine (TMEDA) as an accelerator, and N,N′-methylene bisacrylamide (MBA) as a crosslinker. A proposed mechanism for ΚC-g-AMPS formation was suggested and the hydrogel structure was confirmed using FTIR spectroscopy. The affecting variables on swelling capacity, i.e., the initiator, the crosslinker, and the monomer concentration, as well as reaction temperature,... 

Hydrogels with remarkable hydrophilicity and tunable toughness are appealing materials to serve as superabsorbent polymers. However, chemically cross-linked hydrogels often suffer from low toughness regardless of their considerable swelling, restricting their widespread applications. In comparison, the network of physically cross-linked hydrogels can be regulated to meet both a high swelling ratio and considerable toughness. Here, we develop superabsorbent and tough hydrophobic associated hydrogels using terpolymerization of poly acrylic acid (PAA), polyacrylamide (PAM), and lauryl methacrylate (LMA) within the micelles formed by sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) surfactant. To this end, various... 

In this work, a model is developed to continuously predict homogeneous and inhomogeneous swelling behavior of pH/temperature sensitive PNIPAM hydrogels. Employing the model, homogeneous swelling of the pH/temperature sensitive hydrogel is investigated for free and biaxial constrained swelling cases. Comparing the model results with the experimental data available in the literature, the validity of the model is confirmed. The model is then employed to investigate inhomogeneous swelling of a spherical shell on a hard core both analytically and numerically for pH or temperature variations. In this regard, numerical tools are developed via preparing a user defined subroutine in ABAQUS software.... 

The development of microfluidic hydrogels is an attractive method to generate continuous perfusion, induce vascularization, increase solute delivery, and ultimately improve cell viability. However, the transport processes in many in vitro studies still have not been realized completely. To address this problem, we have developed a microchanneled hydrogel with different collagen type I concentrations of 1, 2, and 3 wt% and assessed its physical properties and obtained diffusion coefficient of nutrient within the hydrogel. It is well known that microchannel geometry has critical role in maintaining stable perfusion rate. Therefore, in this study, a computational modeling was applied to... 

In this investigation a new type of superabsorbent hydrogel based on agar was prepared, and the effect of the feed ratio of some components (acrylic acid, MBA, APS and agar) on the swelling capacity of the hydrogel was systematically studied. Maximum water absorbency of the optimized final product was found to be 1,100∈g/g in distilled water. The structure of the hydrogel was characterized by FT-IR method and morphology of the samples was examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Swelling properties of optimized hydrogel sample in different swelling mediums were investigated. The optimum hydrogel were also loaded with potassium nitrate and its potential for controlled release of...