Textural and tensile properties of thermo-responsive poly(2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethyl methacrylate) hydrogel

Abstract

Hydrogel dressings should be adhesive and elastic, while providing excellent functional and aesthetic features. Owing to weak intermolecular forces, various measures are undertaken to improve the hydrogel mechanical properties. Thermo-responsive poly(2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethyl methacrylate) (poly(MEO2MA)) hydrogel fabricated with different amounts of di(ethylene glycol) dimethacrylate (DEGDMA) cross-linker was characterised using texture profile analysis. More cross-linking sites incorporated within the hydrogel limit the swelling ability where 1.0 and 10 mol-% of DEGDMA swell by 8.03 and 1.92 times, at 5°C. Hydrogel textural and tensile property correlated with the cross-linker amount. Meanwhile, network structure disentanglement within swollen hydrogel reduced the force required for deformation. Thus, the swelling behaviour, textural and tensile properties were investigated to discern the possible biomedical applications suitable for this hydrogel.

Novel antibacterial hydrogels based on gelatin/polyvinyl-alcohol and graphene oxide/silver nanoconjugates: formulation, characterization, and preliminary biocompatibility evaluation

“…For example, low hardness and compressibility are desired to prolong their contact time with the affected skin area. This is critical to avoid any detrimental impact on the newly formed skin cells while maintaining sufficient consistency [ 100 ]. In addition, it is important to prevent excessive adhesion to the surface as this could hinder the diffusion of the treatment towards the bacterial biofilm [ 98 ].…”

[Retracted] Process Optimization for Development of Guar Gum‐Based Biodegradable Hydrogel Film Using Response Surface Methodology

“…This was due to the different number of monomer units that were bound together by the action initiator and so less amount of crosslinker was required to link the structure in 3D, which can easily absorb water molecules. It displays that while increasing the values of initiator and crosslinker up to a certain limit increased the value of hardness after a particular extent of adding initiator and crosslinker loses the bonding as the matrix material, i.e., the natural gum was fixed so the more initiation and cross-linking takes place and loses the strength and so decreases the hardness of the hydrogel film [ 39 ]. Similarly, a contour plot showing the relationship between initiator and plasticizer concentration on the hardness of developed hydrogel film at the optimum value of crosslinker (0.02 mg/100 mL GS) is depicted in Figure 3(b) .…”