Mechanically Reinforcing Polyacrylate/Polyacrylamide Hydrogels through the Addition of Colloidal Particles

Abstract

Polyacrylamide is a popular material for many bio-related applications ranging from electrophoretic separation to cellular supports. A limitation of polyacrylamide-based hydrogels, however, is their mechanical compliance. The current study examines the effect of colloidal particles as a reinforcing filler phase to enhance the mechanical stiffness of polyacrylamide-polyacrylate hydrogels. Measurements with oscillatory rheology show that for a fixed polymer volume fraction, the presence of colloidal particles with various surface modifications generally results in an increase of the shear storage modulus of the hydrogel-particle composite. Interestingly, this study indicated that no discernable trends can be linked between the values of the shear storage modulus and the particle surface characteristics.