Preparation of SA/P(U-AM-ChCl) composite hydrogels by frontal polymerization and its performance study

Bin Li; Aolin Wu; Wenrui Hao; Jizhen Liu; Zhigang Hu; Ying Wang

doi:10.1039/d3ra01478a

Preparation of SA/P(U-AM-ChCl) composite hydrogels by frontal polymerization and its performance study

RSC Adv. 2023 Apr 13;13(17):11530-11536. doi: 10.1039/d3ra01478a. eCollection 2023 Apr 11.

Authors

Bin Li¹, Aolin Wu¹, Wenrui Hao¹, Jizhen Liu², Zhigang Hu¹, Ying Wang¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Mechanical Engineering, Wuhan Polytechnic University Wuhan Hubei 430023 China lb420@whpu.edu.cn.
² Hubei Key Laboratory of Theory and Application of Advanced Materials Mechanics, Wuhan University of Technology Wuhan Hubei 430070 China.

Abstract

Deep eutectic solvent (DES) was synthesized from urea (U), acrylamide (AM) and choline chloride (ChCl), sodium alginate (SA) was selected as filler, and SA/P(U-AM-ChCl) composite hydrogel was prepared by thermal initiation frontal polymerization (FP). The hydrogels were characterised by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The effects of SA on the swelling properties, mechanical properties and self-healing properties of the composite hydrogels were investigated. The results show that the swelling properties of the composite hydrogel with the addition of SA are greatly enhanced due to the large number of hydroxyl groups contained in the SA chain. The tensile strength of the hydrogel gradually increased with increasing SA content, with the maximum tensile strength increasing by a factor of 2.89. The self-healing efficiency of the composite hydrogel gradually increased with the increase of SA, and the healing rate of FP5 reached 94.4% after 48 h of healing. This study provides a simple and rapid method for the preparation of composite hydrogels with good mechanical properties and self-healing properties.