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Hydrogel Sensors and Actuators pp 1–14Cite as

General Properties of Hydrogels

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Part of the book series: Springer Series on Chemical Sensors and Biosensors ((SSSENSORS,volume 6))

Abstract

In the application areas of polymer hydrogels, precise information on their molecular constitution as well as their elastic properties is required. Several interesting molecular features control the elastic properties of the hydrogels. In this chapter, we describe general properties of hydrogels formed by free-radical cross-linking copolymerization of vinyl/divinyl monomers in aqueous solutions. Special attention is paid to the relationships between the formation conditions of hydrogels and their properties such as swelling behaviour, elastic modulus, and spatial inhomogeneity. New developments achieved in the design of hydrogels with a good mechanical performance and a fast response rate is also presented.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    To minimize the energy function, one needs to take the derivatives of the energy contributions with respect to α, and set the sum of the derivatives to zero. Thus, since \( {{\partial \Delta {G_{el}}} \mathord{\left/{\vphantom {{\partial \Delta {G_{el}}} {\partial \alpha }}} \right.} {\partial \alpha }}\; \approx \;{N_s}^{ - 1}\,\alpha \) and \( {{\partial \Delta {G_{ion}}} \mathord{\left/{\vphantom {{\partial \Delta {G_{ion}}} {\partial \alpha }}} \right.} {\partial \alpha }}\; \approx \;f/\,\alpha \), one obtains \( \alpha \approx \left(fN_s \right)^{1/2}\), i.e., (3) in the text.

Abbreviations

AAm:

Acrylamide

AMPS:

Na sodium salt of 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid

DMSO:

Dimethylsulfoxide

FH:

Flory–Huggins

MBAAm:

N, N-methylene bisacrylamide

PAAc:

Poly(acrylic acid)

PAAm:

Poly(acrylamide)

PDMAAm:

Poly(N, N-dimethylacrylamide)

PEG-300:

Poly(ethylene glycol) of molecular weight 300 g mol−1

PNIPAAm:

Poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide)

TBA/AAm:

Poly(N-t-butylacrylamide-co-AAm)

Co :

Initial monomer concentration (g monomer / 100 mL solution)

\( f\; \) :

Effective charge density of the network

G r :

Reduced elastic modulus

G o :

Modulus of elasticity after gel preparation

N s :

Number of segments between two successive cross-links

Q v :

Volume swelling ratio (swollen gel volume / dry gel volume)

R ex,q :

Excess scattering intensity at the scattering vector q

V :

Gel volume at a given degree of swelling

V eq :

Equilibrium swollen normalized gel volume

V o :

Gel volume in after-preparation state

V r :

Normalized gel volume

V sol :

Equilibrium swollen gel volume in solution

V w :

Equilibrium swollen gel volume in water

xi :

Ionic monomer mole fraction in comonomer feed

α:

Linear deformation ratio

ΔG el :

Gibbs free energy of elastic deformation

ΔG ion :

Ionic contribution to Gibbs free energy

ε xl :

Cross-linking efficiency of cross-linker

\( \varphi_2\) :

Volume fraction of cross-linked polymer in gel

\( \varphi_2^0 \) :

Volume fraction of cross-linked polymer after gel preparation

νc :

Effective cross-link density

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey

    O. Okay

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  1. O. Okay
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Correspondence to O. Okay .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Fak. Elektrotechnik, TU Dresden, Helmholtzstr. 18, Dresden, 01069, Germany

    Gerald Gerlach

  2. Inst. Physikalische Chemie und, TU Dresden, Bergstr. 66 B, Dresden, 01069, Germany

    Karl-Friedrich Arndt

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Okay, O. (2009). General Properties of Hydrogels. In: Gerlach, G., Arndt, KF. (eds) Hydrogel Sensors and Actuators. Springer Series on Chemical Sensors and Biosensors, vol 6. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-75645-3_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-75645-3_1

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-75645-3

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