Photopolymerization and structure formation of methacrylic acid based hydrogels in water/ethanol mixture

Hydrogels are a desired material for biomedical and pharmaceutical applications. To better control the synthesized hydrogels for various applications, it is necessary to have a thorough understanding of hydrogel structure and reaction mechanism. In this study, pH-sensitive hydrogel networks consisting of methacrylic acid (MAA) crosslinked with tri(ethylene glycol) dimethacrylate (TEGDMA) were synthesized by free-radical photopolymerization in the water/ethanol mixture. Reaction rate was measured using Photo-differential scanning calorimetry (PhotoDSC) with a modified sample pan designed for handling volatile reagents. A photo-rheometer and a dynamic light scattering (DLS) goniometer were used to follow the changes in viscosity and molecule size of the resin system during photopolymerization. It was found that the rate of polymerization increased and more compact and less swelling gels would form with a higher water fraction in 50 wt% solvent/reactant mixture. This is because the weaker interactions between the MAA and the solvent give a higher opportunity for propagation and a higher reaction rate. And the hydrophobic TEGDMA and initiator tend to form aggregates in the higher water solution, contributing to the inhomogeneous microgel formation. This mechanism is conformed by viscosity measurement, DLS analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observation, and kinetics analysis.