Study On The Preparation And Properties Of The Electroresponsive Polyvinyl Sulfate Potassium Hydrogel

Polymer gel is a three-dimensional network of crosslinked polymers containing considerable amounts of solvent. Polymer gels can undergo continuous or discontinuous volume change caused by an external stimulus such as pH, temperature, solvent composition, ionic strength and electric field etal, showing artificial intelligence. At present, the reasearches on the electroresponsive intelligent hydrogel are less than those of the pH and temperature. The change of pH and temperature is difficult to operate and the response of the gels is also limited. The electroresponsive intelligent hydrogels have wide foreground in the application of the polymer intelligent gels as the electric field is easy to control. At present, the poor mechanical properties and the slowly electroresponsive speed are the two main defects of the electroresponsive intelligent hydrogel.In this study, a novel electroresponsive intelligent hydrogel of crosslinked polyvinyl sulfate potassium (PVSK) hydrogel was prepared by the sulfating reaction of crosslinked polyvinyalcohol, and the effect of the ionic strength and pH on the swelling ratio at equilibrium , mechanical properties and electroresponsive behaviors of the PVSK hydrogel were studied. On this condition, other stimuli-responsive behaviors were also studied in this paper.The experimental results indicated that the ester value of the PVSK hydrogel was 67.45% by the sulfating reaction; the swelling ratios at equilibrium of PVSK hydrogel decreased with increasing of the ionic strength of NaCl solution and were almost invariable in the pH range 2.39-10.83; The PVSK hydrogels swollen in NaCl solution of different pH and ionic strength presented excellent mechanical properties; The PVSK hydrogel bended toward the cathode under non-contact D.C. electric field in NaCl aqueous solution, the bending speed and bending strain of the PVSK hydrogel increased with increasing of the applied voltage and were almost invariable in the pH range 2.08-10.53; the bending speed and bending strain of the PVSK hydrogel was also influenced by the thickness of the PVSK hydrogel and with increasing of the thickness, the bending speed and bending strain was decreased; The electroresponsive...