Synthesis And Evaluation Of Swelling Characteristics Of Fullerene (C60) Containing Cross-linked Poly(2-hydroxyethyl Methacrylate) Hydrogels

¹Department of Plastic Technology, H.B. Technological Institute, Kanpur 208002, India

²Defence Materials and Stores Research and Development Establishment (DMSRDE), Kanpur 208013, India

Adv. Mater. Lett., 2014, 5 (4), pp 214-222

DOI: 10.5185/amlett.2013.8532

Publication Date (Web): Feb 16, 2014

Copyright © IAAM-VBRI Press

E-mail: ds_bag@rediffmail.com

Abstract

Fullerene containing cross-linked poly (2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) polymers (CFPH) with varying C₆₀ content were synthesized by free radical polymerization. The fullerene content in the cross-linked polymers was determined by TGA analysis. The swelling properties of these fullerene containing hydrogels (CFPH) were studied in distilled water (pH=7.2) at room temperature (25^oC) and compared to the corresponding hydrogel without fullerene (CPHEMA). The equilibrium swelling ratio is lower for the fullerene containing hydrogels (54.68% and 40.0% for hydrogels having 6.0 wt% and 18.0 wt% fullerene respectively) due to the presence of hydrophobic fullerene moieties inside the hydrogels than that of the hydrogel (68.75%) without fullerene. The hydrophobic fullerene nanomaterials acting as inherent nanofillers obstruct the path of water permeation inside the polymers thereby taking more time to achieve equilibrium swelling for fullerene containing hydrogels than that of the hydrogel without fullerene. The kinetics of swelling behavior of such fullerene containing cross-linked hydrogels (CFPH) was observed to follow Fickian behavior. Increase of temperature and ionic strength of the medium decrease the water uptake capacity of the fullerene containing cross-linked hydrogels. Fullerene containing hydrogels may be useful in drug delivery system and other biomedical applications.

Keywords

Fullerene (C₆₀) containing cross-linked polymers, C₆₀ containing hydrogels, poly(2-hydroxyethyl methylacrylate) hydrogels, swelling ratio