Synthesis and characterization of hybrid polymeric networks (HPN) based on polyvinyl alcohol/chitosan

The aims of this study are the preparation of hybrid polymer network (HPN) hydrogels with slight differences in their hydrophilic balance and evaluate the influence of the chemical composition on the HPN for application as solid polymeric electrolytes (SPEs). A hydrogels series of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/chitosan (CHI) were prepared using glutaraldehyde as crosslinking agent. The hydrogels were characterized by Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), swelling ratio (SR) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). For sample with higher chitosan in the HPN the PVA crystallization was decreased and HPN with higher PVA content presented an increased swelling ratio. The electrochemical impedance studies demonstrated that the ionic conductivity of PVA/CHI HPN films depend on their composition and it is higher as the PVA content in hydrogel was diminished.