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℃.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%—125%with a gel mass fraction of 83%—91%.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.