GelMa/PEGDA containing graphene oxide as an IPN hydrogel with superior mechanical performance

In this research, H-NMR utilized to characterize gelatin methacrylate (GelMa) and polyethylene glycol diacrylate (PEGDA), indicating that GelMa with 94% degrees of substitution (DS) and PEGDA with almost 90% degree of acrylation (DA) were successfully synthesized. The XRD calculations estimated the layer distance of graphene oxide (GO) to be about 0.8 nm. The ratio of D/G peaks in Raman outputs of GO was 1.1 and the presence of some peaks in the 2D region demonstrated that it had few layers. The elastic modulus variations illustrated that higher GelMa concentration could enhance mechanical properties of hydrogel significantly. Moreover, higher ratio of PEGDA in the interpenetrating network (IPN) hydrogels strengthened it considerably. The presence of GO into the hydrogels improved its mechanical properties. In all specimens, swelling ratio and mechanical properties were inversely related to adding PEGDA or GO in the hydrogels decreasing their swelling ratio. Therefore, in the GelMA/PEGDA/GO hydrogel, the mechanical and swelling behavior could be engineered by different ratios of polymers and GO. These results could introduce IPN hydrogels containing nanomaterials for further progress in biomedical applications. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Selection and/or Peer-review under responsibility of INN International Conference/Workshop on Nanotechnology and Nanomedicine'' NTNM2017.