Issue 108, 2014

Highly enhanced toughness of interpenetrating network hydrogel by incorporating poly(ethylene glycol) in first network

Abstract

An interpenetrating network (IPN) hydrogel with a highly enhanced elongation-at-break has been prepared using poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-swollen poly(2-acrylamide-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid) (PAMPS) as the first network and polyacrylamide (PAM) as the second network. The new IPN hydrogel of PAMPS–PEG/PAM has remarkably high elongation-at-break (∼2100%) in tensile deformation, which is 4 times larger than common PAMPS/PAM IPN hydrogel and PAMPS/PAM–PEG IPN hydrogels synthesized by incorporating PEG into the second network. The microstructures of single network (SN) and IPN hydrogels were investigated by synchrotron radiation small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). SAXS results were analyzed by Guinier, Ornstein–Zernike (OZ), and generalized Ornstein–Zernike (GOZ) models. It was found that the incorporated PEG increases the size of cross-linked domains and decreases the fractal dimension of domains. The toughening mechanism of PEG on IPN hydrogel was discussed. It is proposed that the largely enhanced toughness of PAMPS–PEG/PAM IPN hydrogel is due to the increased size of physical cross-linked domains, hydrogen bonding between the first and second network, and the increased pull-out resistance of PAM chains under deformation.

Graphical abstract: Highly enhanced toughness of interpenetrating network hydrogel by incorporating poly(ethylene glycol) in first network

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
30 Sep 2014
Accepted
04 Nov 2014
First published
24 Nov 2014

RSC Adv., 2014,4, 63513-63519

Highly enhanced toughness of interpenetrating network hydrogel by incorporating poly(ethylene glycol) in first network

L. Wang, G. Shan and P. Pan, RSC Adv., 2014, 4, 63513 DOI: 10.1039/C4RA11494A

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