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OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION : Hydrogels are crosslinked materials
with viscoelastic properties and network structure caused
by cross-linker and the solvent, respectively.
Hydrogels are a three-dimensional network, which can be
formed by cross-linking polymer chains,which renders it
the property of crosslinking.
The cross-linking of these polymers are a result of
covalent, hydrogen bonding, van der Waals forces or
physical entanglements.
Hydrogels can hold a large amount of water, more than
400 times its original weight, up to thousands of times
their dry weight.
TYPES OF HYDROGEL:
Classifications based on :
1. Preparation method:
Grafting
Crosslinking
Radiation
2. Material resources:
Natural
Semi synthetic
Synthetic
3. Morphological features:
Particle
Powder
Spherical
Fiber
Emulsion
Polymerization
techniques:
Several polymerization techniques have been used to
synthesize and prepare PHG:
Solution polymerization
Aqueous polymer solution
Radiation polymerization
Photo polymerization
Suspension polymerization
Reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT)
polymerization
Free radical polymerization
But solution, suspension and radiation polymerization are the
three most important types of polymerization techniques.
Solution polymerization
In solution polymerization, the ionic or neutral monomers are mixed
with the multifunctional cross-linking agent. The polymerization is
initiated thermally by UV-irradiation or by a redox initiator system. The
presence of solvent is the major advantage of the solution
polymerization over the bulk polymerization method to serve as a heat
sink.
Suspension polymerization
Suspension polymerization is used to prepare spherical PHGs or micro-
particles with a size range of 1 mm to 1 mm. The polymerization is
initiated by radicals from thermal decomposition of an initiator. The
inverse suspension technique has been widely used for preparation of
hydrogels of polyacrylamide because of its easy removal and
management of the hazardous residual acrylamide monomer from the
polymer.
Polymerization by Irradiation
Gamma rays and electron beams, has been used to initiate the
polymerization for preparing the PHGs of unsaturated compounds. It
results in the formation of radicals on the polymer chains. The major
advantage of the radiation initiation over the chemical initiation is that
the production relatively pure and initiator free.
Methods to produce
hydrogel
1.Physical crosslinking :
Various types of physical cross linking methods are adopted, they
are:
Heating/cooling a polymer solution
Physically cross-linked gels are formed when cooling hot solutions of
gelatine or carrageenan. The gel formation is due to helix-formation,
association of the helices, and forming junction zones.
DSC(Differential Scanning
Calorimetry
It is also used to characterise and quantify the amount of free
and bound water in hydrogels. The use of DSC is based on the
assumption that only the free water may be frozen, so it is
assumed that the endotherm measured when warming the
frozen gel represents the melting of the free water, and that
value will yield the amount of free water in the hydrogel
sample being tested. The bound water is then obtained by
difference of the measured total water content of the hydrogel
test specimen, and the calculated free water content.
Applications of hydrogel
pH sensitive hydrogels are able to convert chemical energy to
mechanical energy. Therefore they are used in artificial muscles.
Thermo sensitive PHGs have been used as drug delivery systems.
Electro sensitive PHGs have been applied in controlled drug delivery
systems.
Light sensitive PHGs are used to develop photo responsive artificial
muscles, switches and memory devices.
Used in ocular lens.
Temperature sensitive hydrogels are used in water removal processes.
Used for application of removal of heavy metals from aqueous solutions.
Control release fertilizer to reduce pollution.
Used in plant growth and production, textile, paper and pulp production
industries.
In pharmaceuticals field, PHG materials have special application
including diagnostic, therapeutic, and implantable devices such as
catheters, biosensors, dental materials artificial skin, and tissue
engineering.