Chemical Properties Of Hydrogels Research Articles

Hydrogel-Based Interfacial Solar-Driven Evaporation: Essentials and Trails

Hydrogel-based interfacial solar-driven evaporation (ISDE) gives full play to the highly adjustable physical and chemical properties of hydrogel, which endows ISDE systems with excellent evaporation performance, anti-pollution properties, and mechanical behavior, making it more promising for applications in seawater desalination and wastewater treatment. This review systematically introduces the latest advances in hydrogel-based ISDE systems from three aspects: the required properties, the preparation methods, and the role played in application scenarios of hydrogels used in ISDE. Additionally, we also discuss the remaining challenges and potential opportunities in hydrogel-based ISDE systems. By summarizing the latest research progress, we hope that researchers in related fields have some insight into the unique advantages of hydrogels in the ISDE field and contribute our efforts so that ISDE technology reaches the finishing line of practical application on the hydrogel track.

3D cell culture of nanofiber hydrogel promotes the growth and osteogenesis of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSC)

Hydrogels, as a type of polymer network material with high water content, find wide application in various tissue repair procedures. In addition, a three-dimension (3D) cell culture platform similar to natural extracellular matrix can be constructed in vitro by modifying natural polymer chains. Therefore, this study based on natural polymer hydrogel, the introduction of inorganic nanoparticles POSS to prepare GelMA-POSS nanohydrogel. The physical and chemical properties of the hydrogel were evaluated through SEM, swelling test and degradation analysis. Subsequently, the GelMA-POSS nano-hydrogel was used as matrix material to culture rBMSCs in vitro. CCK-8 and flow cytometry were used to detect the proliferation ability and apoptosis rate of rBMSCs. The expression of osteogenic markers in rBMSCs was detected by qPCR, Western Blotting and ELISA assay, and the osteogenic differentiation of rBMSCs was detected by ALP staining and alizarin red staining. The results indicate that compared with pure gelatin (Gel) hydrogel, GelMA-POSS nanohydrogel has slower degradation rate and better water retention capacity. Furthermore, in vitro cell culture experiments showed that GelMA-POSS nano-hydrogel had good biocompatibility, and could promote the proliferation of rBMSCs and increase the expression level of osteogenic markers in cells, and induce osteogenic differentiation of rBMSCs. GelMA-POSS nano-hydrogel based on POSS significantly improves the physical and chemical properties of Gel hydrogel, and has good biocompatibility and the ability to induce osteogenic differentiation of rBMSCs, Thus, it holds great promise as a potential material for repairing bone defects.

Bone/cartilage immunomodulating hydrogels: construction strategies and applications

To review the research progress in the construction strategy and application of bone/cartilage immunomodulating hydrogels. The literature related to bone/cartilage immunomodulating hydrogels at home and abroad in recent years was reviewed and summarized from the immune response mechanism of different immune cells, the construction strategy of immunomodulating hydrogels, and their practical applications. According to the immune response mechanism of different immune cells, the biological materials with immunoregulatory effect is designed, which can regulate the immune response of the body and thus promote the regeneration of bone/cartilage tissue. Immunomodulating hydrogels have good biocompatibility, adjustability, and multifunctionality. By regulating the physical and chemical properties of hydrogel and loading factors or cells, the immune system of the body can be purposively regulated, thus forming an immune microenvironment conducive to osteochondral regeneration. Immunomodulating hydrogels can promote osteochondral repair by affecting the immunomodulation process of host organs or cells. It has shown a wide application prospect in the repair of osteochondral defects. However, more data support from basic and clinical experiments is needed for this material to further advance its clinical translation process.

Biomedical Applications of Deformable Hydrogel Microrobots.

Hydrogel, a material with outstanding biocompatibility and shape deformation ability, has recently become a hot topic for researchers studying innovative functional materials due to the growth of new biomedicine. Due to their stimulus responsiveness to external environments, hydrogels have progressively evolved into "smart" responsive (such as to pH, light, electricity, magnetism, temperature, and humidity) materials in recent years. The physical and chemical properties of hydrogels have been used to construct hydrogel micro-nano robots which have demonstrated significant promise for biomedical applications. The different responsive deformation mechanisms in hydrogels are initially discussed in this study; after which, a number of preparation techniques and a variety of structural designs are introduced. This study also highlights the most recent developments in hydrogel micro-nano robots' biological applications, such as drug delivery, stem cell treatment, and cargo manipulation. On the basis of the hydrogel micro-nano robots' current state of development, current difficulties and potential future growth paths are identified.

Electro-Responsive Conductive Blended Hydrogel Patch.

The proposed electro-responsive hydrogel has great benefit for transdermal drug delivery system (TDDS) applications. To improve the physical or chemical properties of hydrogels, a number of researchers have previously studied the mixing efficiencies of the blended hydrogels. However, few studies have focused on improving the electrical conductivity and drug delivery of the hydrogels. We developed a conductive blended hydrogel by mixing alginate with gelatin methacrylate (GelMA) and silver nanowire (AgNW). We demonstrated that and the tensile strength of blended hydrogels were increased by a factor of 1.8 by blending GelMA and the electrical conductivity was enhanced by a factor of 18 by the addition of AgNW. Furthermore, the GelMA-alginate-AgNW (Gel-Alg-AgNW) blended hydrogel patch enabled on-off controllable drug release, indicating 57% doxorubicin release in response to electrical stimulation (ES) application. Therefore, this electro-responsive blended hydrogel patch could be useful for smart drug delivery applications.

Poly(N-vinylcaprolactam)-Gold Nanorods-5 Fluorouracil Hydrogels: In the Quest of a Material for Topical Therapies against Melanoma Skin Cancer.

Chemically crosslinked hydrogels based on poly(N-vinylcaprolactam) (PNVCL) were synthetized by a photoinitiated chemical method. A galactose-based monomer, 2-lactobionamidoethyl methacrylate (LAMA), and N-vinylpyrrolidone (NVP) were added with the aim to improve the physical and chemical properties of hydrogels. The effects of both comonomers on the swelling ratio (Q), volume phase transition temperature (VPTT), glass transition temperature (Tg), and Young's moduli by mechanical compression below and above the VPTT were studied. Gold nanorods (GNRDs) and 5-fluorouracil (5FU) were embedded into the hydrogels, to study the drug release profiles with and without the excitation of GNRDs by irradiation in the near-infrared region (NIR). Results showed that the addition of LAMA and NVP increased the hydrogels' hydrophilicity, elasticity, and VPTT. The loading of GNRDs in the hydrogels changed the release rate of 5FU when irradiated intermittently with an NIR laser. The present study reports on the preparation of a hydrogel-based platform of PNVCL-GNRDs-5FU as a potential hybrid anticancer hydrogel for chemo/photothermal therapy that could be applied against skin cancer for topical 5FU delivery.

Citric acid cross-linked chitosan for inhibiting oxidative stress after nerve injury.

Scaffold design is particularly important and necessary for soft tissue repair such as nerve tissue repair. In this article, we designed and manufactured a macroporous chitosan-based hydrogel with excellent cell compatibility and antioxidant properties. Here, the chitosan (CS) based hydrogel is obtained by repeated freezing and thawing using citric acid (CA) as a cross-linking agent. We have evaluated the effects of citric acid content on the physical and chemical properties of hydrogels through mechanical properties and scanning electron microscopy. CA-CS hydrogel shows a macroporous structure, as the citric acid increases, the mechanical strength increases and the pore size decreases. In vitro cell experiments show that CA-CS hydrogel partakes positive effects on cell survival, adhesion and proliferation, as well as antioxidant properties. All results provide a basis for the construction of porous chitosan-based hydrogels, while demonstrating a promising approach to deal with oxidative stress in nerve injury.

Design and Fabrication of Polymeric Hydrogel Carrier for Nerve Repair.

Nerve regeneration and repair still remain a huge challenge for both central nervous and peripheral nervous system. Although some therapeutic substances, including neuroprotective agents, clinical drugs and stem cells, as well as various growth factors, are found to be effective to promote nerve repair, a carrier system that possesses a sustainable release behavior, in order to ensure high on-site concentration during the whole repair and regeneration process, and high bioavailability is still highly desirable. Hydrogel, as an ideal delivery system, has an excellent loading capacity and sustainable release behavior, as well as tunable physical and chemical properties to adapt to various biomedical scenarios; thus, it is thought to be a suitable carrier system for nerve repair. This paper reviews the structure and classification of hydrogels and summarizes the fabrication and processing methods that can prepare a suitable hydrogel carrier with specific physical and chemical properties. Furthermore, the modulation of the physical and chemical properties of hydrogels is also discussed in detail in order to obtain a better therapeutic effect to promote nerve repair. Finally, the future perspectives of hydrogel microsphere carriers for stroke rehabilitation are highlighted.

The effect of foaming additives on acrylic acid/acrylamide hydrogels

The physical and chemical properties of hydrogels are greatly dictated by their composition. In this study, modifications were brought to the macroscopic structure of hydrogels using foaming additives, and their effects on the swelling capacity and heavy metal adsorption were investigated. Significant differences in swelling capacities were found for hydrogels synthesized with a foaming agent and a foam stabilizer (257 g/g), with a foaming agent without foam stabilizer (195 g/g), or without any additives (182 g/g). The study compared the ion removal capacity for copper (II), cadmium (II), and nickel (II) under competitive and non-competitive conditions. The use of a foaming agent significantly increased the ion removal capacity of the hydrogels, from 54 to 93 mg/g cadmium, from 75 mg/g to 104 mg/g copper, and from 48 mg/g to 80 mg/g nickel. Under competitive conditions, the hydrogels preferentially removed cadmium > copper > nickel. However, maximum removal decreased for individual heavy metals under competitive conditions.

Preparation and applications of the polymeric micelle/hydrogel nanocomposites as biomaterials

Polymeric hydrogels have been widely researched as drug delivery systems, wound dressings and tissue engineering scaffolds due to their unique properties such as good biocompatibility, shaping ability and similar properties to extracellular matrix. However, further development of conventional hydrogels for biomedical applications is still limited by their poor mechanical properties and self-healing properties. Currently, nanocomposite hydrogels with excellent properties and customized functions can be obtained by introducing nanoparticles into their network, and different types of nanoparticles, including carbon-based, polymer-based, inorganic-based and metal-based nanoparticle, are commonly used. Nanocomposite hydrogels incorporated with polymeric micelles can not only enhance the mechanical properties, self-healing properties and chemical properties of hydrogels, but also improve the in vivo stability of micelles. Therefore, micelle-hydrogel nanocomposites have been recently considered as promising biomaterials. In this paper, the structure, properties and methods for preparation of the micelle-hydrogel nanocomposite systems are introduced, and their applications in drug delivery, wound treatment and tissue engineering are reviewed, aiming to provide reference for further development and application of the nanocomposites.

Superabsorbent hydrogel from oil palm empty fruit bunch cellulose and sodium carboxymethylcellulose.

A green regenerated superabsorbent hydrogel was fabricated with mixtures of dissolved oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) cellulose and sodium carboxymethylcellulose (NaCMC) in NaOH/urea system. The formation of hydrogel was aided with epichlorohydrin (ECH) as a crosslinker. The resultant regenerated hydrogel was able to swell >80,000% depending on the NaCMC concentrations. The hydrogel absorbed water rapidly upon exposure to water up to 48 h and gradually declined after 72 h. The crosslinked of covalent bond of COC between dissolved EFB cellulose (EFBC) with NaCMC was confirmed with Attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FT-IR) spectroscopy. Crystallinity and thermal stability of the hydrogel samples were depended on the concentrations of NaCMC, crosslinking, and swelling process. The strength and stability of crosslinked network was studied by examining the gel fraction of hydrogel. This study explored the swelling ability and probable influenced factors towards physical and chemical properties of hydrogel.

Hydrogel Preparation Technologies: Relevance Kinetics, Thermodynamics and Scaling up Aspects

Hydrogels are three-dimensional structure composed of organic resources with lightly cross-linked having high to very high swelling ability in aqueous solutions. Due to the special physical and chemical properties of hydrogels, such as: flexibility, swell-ability, softness, and biocompatibility, there are growing research interest in the hydrogel synthesis, developing its properties, and hence increasing the applications in different fields. Both natural and synthetic polymers either physically or chemically cross-linked for producing hydrogels. This review covers definition, classification, application of polymer hydrogels and an also, overview of the different synthesis processes, kinetics and thermodynamics mathematical modeling approaches. A case study related to producing and using hydrogel in various areas has been reviewed.

Impact of Lignin Content on the Properties of Hemicellulose Hydrogels.

Hemicellulose is a promising renewable raw material for the production of hydrogels. This polysaccharide exists in large amounts in various waste streams, in which they are usually impure and heavily diluted. Several downstream processing methods can be combined to concentrate and purify the hemicellulose. However, such an approach can be costly; hence, the effect of impurities on the formation and properties of hydrogels must be determined. Lignin usually exists in these waste streams as a major impurity that is also difficult to separate. This compound can darken hydrogels and decrease their swellability and reactivity, as shown in many studies. Other properties and effects of lignin impurities are equally important for the end application of hydrogels and the overall process economy. In this work, we examined the feasibility of producing hydrogels from hemicelluloses that originated from sodium-based spent sulfite liquor. A combination of membrane filtration and anti-solvent precipitation was used to extract and purify various components. The influence of the purity of hemicellulose and the addition of lignosulfonates (emulated impurities in the downstream processing) to the crosslinking reaction mixture on the mechanical, thermal, and chemical properties of hydrogels was determined.

Chemically crosslinked hydrogel and its driving force towards superabsorbent behaviour

Dissolved oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) cellulose in NaOH/urea solvent was mixed with sodium carboxymethylcellulose (NaCMC) to form a green regenerated superabsorbent hydrogel. The effect of concentration of epichlorohydrin (ECH) as the crosslinker on the formation, physical, and chemical properties of hydrogel was studied. Rapid formation and higher gel content of hydrogel were observed at 10% concentration of ECH. The superabsorbent hydrogel was successfully fabricated in this study with the swelling ability >100,000%. Hydrogel with higher concentration of ECH showed opposite trend by having higher superabsorbent property than that of lower concentration. The covalent bond of COC was observed with Attenuated total reflectance fourier transform infrared (ATR-FT-IR) spectroscopy to confirm the occurrence of crosslinking. The physical and chemical properties of hydrogel were affected by swelling phenomenon. Hydrogel with higher degree of swelling exhibited lower moisture retention and higher transparency. Moreover, the weight of the superabsorbent hydrogel increased with the decrement of pH value of external media (distilled water). This study provided substantial information on the effect of different percentage of ECH as crosslinker on hydrogel basic properties. Furthermore, this study affords correlation of many essential driving forces that affected hydrogel superabsorbent property.

Recovery of Kraft Lignin from OPEFB and Using for Lignin–Agarose Hydrogel

Lignins from the spent pulping liquor were normally acquired as waste product of pulp and paper mills. The possibilities of utilizing kraft lignin have yet been developed for commercial innovation. The objectives of this research are to recovery and utilization of lignin from black liquor of oil palm empty fruit bunches (OPEFBs). Kraft lignins from the OPEFBs black liquor were recovered by acidification procedure. They were precipitated at pH 4, 3, and 2 in order that determine the optimum pH for isolation. It can be clearly seen that the best condition of lignin precipitation was at pH 3. It offered the highest yield and purity. The kraft lignin and agarose were utilized as the crude material for the production of lignin–agarose hydrogel. Lignin–agarose hydrogel could be prepared by using epichlorohydrin as the cross-linking agent. The cross-linking occurrence was recognized by FTIR. Physical and chemical properties of hydrogel were investigated. Gel strength of lignin–agarose hydrogel was characterized by texture personal analysis. The results demonstrated that the gel strength increased with increasing of lignin and epichlorohydrin (ECH) in agarose solutions. 5% lignin, 5% agarose and 10 mL ECH contributed the best gel formation and the great mechanical properties. The effect of cross-linking condition on the gel properties, for example, gel hardness and fracturability, was examined.

A study of biomedical properties of hydrogels based on recombinant spidroin after their sterilization

A comparative analysis of rheological, organoleptic, physical and chemical properties of hydrogels was performed and their biosafety was examined in cell cultures before and after radiation and tyndallization sterilization. It was shown that the radiation sterilization does not destabilize the protein molecules of hydrogels at exposure doses less than 15 kGy, thereby not changing their physical, chemical and biomedical properties and, hence, the operational characteristics of products based on hydrogels.