Incorporation of organic acids in the crosslinking of polyvinyl alcohol hydrogels

Abstract

This work studied the incorporation of organic acids as crosslinking agents and reaction time on the properties of poly(alcohol vinyl) (PVOH) hydrogels to act as scaffold systems to compounds incorporated into agriculture systems. PVOH hydrogels crosslinked with citric and L-malic acids were prepared, and the effects of heat-treatment time, and temperature on their swelling and hygroscopic performances were investigated by FTIR, thermal analysis and swelling. Both the swelling and rate of water uptake of hydrogels decreased with increasing heat-treatment time. While the swelling decreased with heat-treatment time, the chemical crosslinking shown in FTIR increased. DSC results indicated adsorbed water in the uncrosslinked PVOH and hydrogels, and the absorbed water changed the melting point and glass transition temperature. TGA analysis showed that the incorporation of organic acids brought thermal stability. The results obtained show effective crosslinking hydrogels by L-malic acids and possibilities to use in scaffold systems and controlled release.