Development and characterization of thermosensitive hydrogels based on poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) and calcium alginate

This work refers to the synthesis and characterization of thermosensitive hydrogels based on interpenetrating polymer networks (IPNs) of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm) and calcium alginate in the form of films. The influence of the crosslinking degree of PNIPAAm and alginate content on thermal, swelling, mechanical, and morphological properties of hydrogels is investigated in detail. Characterization of pure PNIPAAm hydrogels and IPN hydrogels was performed by FTIR, DSC, DMA, and SEM. In addition, the studies of equilibrium swelling behavior as well as swelling, deswelling, and reswelling kinetics are performed. The results obtained imply the benefits of synthesizing IPNs based on PNIPAAm and calcium alginate over pure PNIPAAm hydrogels. The presence of calcium alginate contributes to the improvement of mechanical properties, the deswelling rate of hydrogels, and the network porosity, without altering the thermosensitivity of PNIPAAm significantly. (C) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012