Preparation and surface characterization of polyurethane hydrogels

Abstract

In the present study, new hydrogels based on polyurethane (PU) and poly(vinyl alcohol) PVA were obtained by freezing–thawing method from aqueous solution. The surfaces of PU/PVA hydrogels were characterized in terms of porosity, roughness, water swelling, Raman and Attenuated Total Reflection Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy. The average pore size increased from 0.6 μm to 21 μm for pure PVA and the PU/PVA hydrogels. The Raman and ATR-FTIR analysis provided hydrophobic interactions and hydrogen bonds interactions between the hydroxyl groups from PVA with the large number of urethane groups from polyurethane. The incorporation of polyurethane also increased the surface roughness and the swelling water of the PVA hydrogels and made the surface more porous, a desirable feature for biomedical application.

Poly(vinyl alcohol)/Plant Extracts Films: Preparation, Surface Characterization and Antibacterial Studies against Gram Positive and Gram Negative Bacteria

“…Because S. aureus and E. coli are bacteria resistant to a lot of antibiotic therapy, major concerns were raised in the public health field regarding the necessity to develop other new antibacterial compounds. For this reason, the current interest of science is focused on biodegradable polymers to be used for this purpose [ 3 , 4 , 5 ]. Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) is one of the best known environmentally friendly polymers and is obtained in a hydrolysis reaction of poly(vinyl acetate) [ 6 ].…”