Effects of inhomogeneities in polyacrylamide gels on thermodynamic and transport properties

Molecular Dynamics Simulations of HEMA-Based Hydrogels for Ophthalmological Applications

The structural and dynamic properties of poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (PHEMA) and poly(N-vinylpyrrolidone-co-2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) [P(VP-co-HEMA)], dry and as hydrogels, were studied by molecular dynamics simulations. The P(VP-co-HEMA) chains differed in the number of VP mers, distributed randomly or in blocks. In all considered configurations, HEMA and VP side chains proved relatively rigid and stable. Water concentration had a significant impact on their dynamic behavior. Oxygen atoms of hydroxyl and carbonyl groups of HEMA and carbonyl groups of VP are preferred sites of hydrogen bonding with water molecules. The copolymer swelling results in diffusion channels, larger in systems with high water content. In low-hydrated materials, water shows subdiffusion, while normal diffusion predominates in the high-hydrated ones. The VP side chains in copolymers with HEMA do not enhance the mobility of water.

Spatial regulation of hydrogel polymerization reaction using ultrasound-driven streaming vortex

Ultrasound is gaining attention as an alternative tool to regulate chemical processes due to its advantages such as high cost-effectiveness, rapid response, and contact-free operation. Previous studies have demonstrated that acoustic bubble cavitation can generate energy to synthesize functional materials. In this study, we introduce a method to control the spatial distribution of physical and chemical properties of hydrogels by using an ultrasound-mediated particle manipulation technique. We developed a surface acoustic wave device that can localize micro-hydrogel particles, which are formed during gelation, in a hydrogel solution. The hydrogel fabricated with the application of surface acoustic waves exhibited gradients in mechanical, mass transport, and structural properties. We demonstrated that the gel having the property gradients could be utilized as a cell-culture substrate dictating cellular shapes, which is beneficial for interfacial tissue engineering. The acoustic method and fabricated hydrogels with property gradients can be applied to design flexible polymeric materials for soft robotics, biomedical sensors, or bioelectronics applications.

Hydrogels: experimental characterization and mathematical modelling of their mechanical and diffusive behaviour

Hydrogels are materials widely used in biomedical, pharmaceutical, and nutraceutical applications. Knowledge of their mechanical and diffusive behaviour is desired to design new hydrogels-based-systems.

Thin hydrogel films for optical biosensor applications

Hydrogel materials consisting of water-swollen polymer networks exhibit a large number of specific properties highly attractive for a variety of optical biosensor applications. This properties profile embraces the aqueous swelling medium as the basis of biocompatibility, non-fouling behavior, and being not cell toxic, while providing high optical quality and transparency. The present review focuses on some of the most interesting aspects of surface-attached hydrogel films as active binding matrices in optical biosensors based on surface plasmon resonance and optical waveguide mode spectroscopy. In particular, the chemical nature, specific properties, and applications of such hydrogel surface architectures for highly sensitive affinity biosensors based on evanescent wave optics are discussed. The specific class of responsive hydrogel systems, which can change their physical state in response to externally applied stimuli, have found large interest as sophisticated materials that provide a complex behavior to hydrogel-based sensing devices.

Progress Toward Robust Polymer Hydrogels

In this review we highlight new developments in tough hydrogel materials in terms of their enhanced mechanical performance and their corresponding toughening mechanisms. These mechanically robust hydrogels have been developed over the past 10 years with many now showing mechanical properties comparable with those of natural tissues. By first reviewing the brittleness of conventional synthetic hydrogels, we introduce each new class of tough hydrogel: homogeneous gels, slip-link gels, double-network gels, nanocomposite gels and gels formed using poly-functional crosslinkers. In each case we provide a description of the fracture process that may be occurring. With the exception of double network gels where the enhanced toughness is quite well understood, these descriptions remain to be confirmed. We also introduce material property charts for conventional and tough synthetic hydrogels to illustrate the wide range of mechanical and swelling properties exhibited by these materials and to highlight links between these properties and the network topology. Finally, we provide some suggestions for further work particularly with regard to some unanswered questions and possible avenues for further enhancement of gel toughness.

Dielectric study of neutral and charged hydrogels during the swelling process

Dielectric spectroscopy measurements of conductivity were applied for understanding the change in the internal morphology of the neutral and permanently charged polyacrylamide (PAAm) hydrogels during the swelling process. For the first time four distinct peaks (each corresponding to a different swelling stage) in the conductivity of the neutral gel were observed during the swelling of this gel. These peaks are related to the distribution of dense polymer regions (they are defined as the "blobs") appearing in a microstructure of the given PAAm gel having at least four average sizes. For the charged gel the heterogeneity decreases due to the internal electric field of the charged sites. Thus, this characteristic behavior in the conductivity becomes almost negligible for the gel charged with permanent SO(3) (-) groups. It seems this fact causes considerable decrease in amplitude of the peaks and overall decrease the conductivity during the whole swelling process especially at high frequencies. The new theory of dielectric relaxation based on the fractional kinetics containing the complex power-law exponents was used for verifying these swelling processes and received an excellent confirmation in description of the real part of the complex conductivity Re[sigma(omega)] by the fitting function that follows from the suggested theory. The calculated power-law exponents describe the behavior of Re[sigma(omega,mm(0))] in the available frequency range (30 Hz-13 MHz) and for all values of the relative masses (volumes) measured in the process of the experiment. The excellent coincidence between the new theory and measured data gives a possibility to suggest more reliable physical picture of the swelling process that takes place in neutral/charged gels.

Viscoelastic Characterization and Modeling of Gelation Kinetics of Injectable In Situ Cross-Linkable Poly(lactide-co-ethylene oxide-co-fumarate) Hydrogels

Cell transplantation by injection of biodegradable hydrogels is a recently developed strategy for the treatment of degenerated tissues. A cell carrier should be cytocompatible, have suitable working time and rheological properties for injection, and harden in situ to attain dimensional stability and the desired mechanical strength. Hydrophilic macromer/cross-linker polymerizing systems, due to the relatively high molecular weight of the macromer and its inability to cross the cell membrane, are very attractive as injectable cell carriers. The objective of this research was to determine the effects of cross-linker, initiator, and accelerator concentrations on the gelation kinetics and ultimate modulus of a biodegradable, in situ cross-linkable poly(lactide-co-ethylene oxide-co-fumarate) (PLEOF) macromer. The in situ polymerizing mixture consisted of PLEOF macromer, methylene bisacrylamide cross-linker, and a neutral redox initiation system of ammonium persulfate initiator and tetramethylethylenediamine accelerator. Measurement of the time evolution of the viscoelastic properties of the network during the sol-gel transition showed the important influence of each component on the gel time and stiffness of the hydrogels. A kinetic model was developed to predict the modulus as a function of composition. Model predictions were consistent with most of the experimental findings. The values of the storage and loss moduli at the gel point were found to be approximately equal for samples with equal PLEOF concentrations, resulting in a simple method to predict the gelation time based on the Winter--Chambon criterion, with the use of the proposed kinetic model. The results of this study can be coupled with component cytocompatibility measurements to predict the effect of composition on the viability of the cells encapsulated in the hydrogel matrix.

Monitoring small molecule diffusion into hydrogels at various temperatures by fluorescence technique

Steady state fluorescence technique was used to study small molecule diffusion into polyacrylamide (PAAm) gels at various temperatures. Pyranine (P(y)), dissolved in water was introduced as a probe and fluorescence emission (I(p)) from P(y) was monitored during diffusion. Scattered light intensities, I(sc) from PAAm gel was also monitored to observe structural variations during diffusion process. Increase in I(p) intensity was attributed to P(y) diffusion into PAAm gel. On the other hand decrease in I(sc) intensity was interpreted as the variation of the spatial heterogeneities in the system. Li-Tanaka and Fickian models were used to quantify the swelling and diffusion experiments and diffusion coefficients were produced in both cases. Related activation energies were also calculated from the corresponding physical processes.

Friction coefficient and structural transition in a poly(acrylamide) gel

The friction coefficient between the polymer network of an opaque poly(acrylamide) gel and water is measured as a function of the mole fraction of cross linker. The friction coefficients of opaque gels are 4 to 5 orders of magnitude smaller than those of the transparent gels. This drastic decrease in friction occurs when the mole fraction of cross linker is 0.2. In opaque gels, the friction coefficient of gels and the mole fraction of cross linker are related by a power law. The network structure of the opaque gels used in the friction measurements is examined with a confocal laser scanning microscope. The opaque gel network consists of a fractal aggregate of colloidal particles. The radius of particles and the volume occupied by the particles depend on the mole fraction of cross linker. Both relationships are well described by the power laws. The power law of the friction coefficient is well explained in terms of the power laws of the structural parameters and the Stokes equation of the hydrodynamic friction for the spherical particle. It indicates that the friction of the opaque gel is determined simply by the structure of the polymer network.

Real space structure of opaque gel

The structure of the opaque poly(acrylamide) gels is studied by using a confocal laser scanning microscope. The polymer network of the gel consists of the fractal aggregate of the colloidal particles in the higher concentration region of the cross-linker. The diameter of the colloidal particle, which formed in the gel, increases from 180 to 420 nm with an increase of the concentration of cross-linker. On the other hand, the fractal dimensions of the aggregate remain constant, ranging from 1.5 to 1.7. The densities of the particle are calculated to be 0.7 and 1.2 x 103 kg/m3, which are >10 times larger than the average density of the polymer network of the gel. The results indicate that the monomer and the cross-linker are densely cross-linked into the particles.