PREPARATION AND PROPERTIES OF CHITOSAN-GRAFT-POLY(ACRYLIC ACID)/GRAPHENE OXIDE NANOCOMPOSTIE HYDROGELS

A series of chitosan-graft-poly(acrylic acid)/graphene oxide nanocomposite hydrogels were synthesized by in situ radical polymerization. The effects of graphene oxide (GO) content on the chemical structures and morphologies of the hydrogels were investigated. Meanwhile, swelling properties, mechanical properties, as well as salt- and pH- sensitive behaviors were also evaluated. Due to the good interactions between GO and polymer chains, only a few GO loadings could affect the morphologies of the hydrogels significantly, resulting in the formation of porous network structure. Although the swelling ratios decreased with increasing the amount of GO sheets, the composite hydrogels showed a marked improvement of their mechanical strength. The composite hydrogels also exhibited salt- and pH-sensitive behaviors. Therefore, this study provideda novel strategy to fabricate the porous hydrogels that have the promising applications in biomedical area.