Preparation and Characterization of a Novel Hybrid Copolymer Hydrogel with Poly（ethylene glycol） Dimethacrylate, 2-Hydroxyethyl Methacrylate and Layered Double Hydroxides

Preparation and characterization of a novel hybrid copolymer hydrogel with poly(ethylene glycol) dimethacrylate, 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate and layered double hydroxides

This paper describes the fabrication, characterization and properties of a novel hybrid poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) based hydrogel via in situ polymerization. The hybrid hydrogel was fabricated by free-radical redox polymerization using ammonium persulfate (APS) and N, N, N??, N??-tetramethylethylenediamine (TEMED) as initiators and N, N??-methylene bisacrylamide (BIS) as cross-linker at 60°C. To create a hybrid hydrogel, 0.2% (mass fraction) of MgAl layered double hydroxide (LDH) was added to the aqueous solution by ultrasonic dispersion. The physicochemical properties of hybrid hydrogel under vacuum freeze-drying processing were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), while swelling kinetics and gel content were calculated. Swelling degree in distilled water varied from 94%?C125% with a gel mass fraction of 83%?C91%. SEM images showed that the micron pore size of hydrogel could be adjusted within the range of several micrometers by changing the cross-linker mass fraction from 2% to 10% (based on glycol). The results showed that the hybrid hydrogels exhibited excellent physicochemical behavior and might be a promising material for applications in tissue engineering and drug delivery.