Porous polyelectrolyte hydrogels with enhanced swelling properties prepared via thermal reverse casting technique

In this work we investigated the preparation and characterization of porous polyelectrolyte hydrogels via thermal reverse casting technique. Polyacrylamide hydrogels were synthesized by free-radical crosslinking polymerization into the space of an agarose gel which, after the setting of the chemical gel, was removed to allow the formation of an interconnected porosity pathway. Two different monomer/agarose solution ratios were selected for the reverse casting process and, the resulting hydrogels characterized in terms of morphological, micro-structural and thermal properties, as well as swelling capability in solutions at different ionic strength. The results of this study demonstrated that proposed technique allowed the design of porous polyacrylamide hydrogels with well controlled pore structures. Furthermore, if compared to non porous polyacrylamide hydrogel, the as obtained hydrogels were characterized by enhanced swelling properties and that, these properties were fine tuned by the appropriate selection of the templating agent concentration.