Sulfoacetic acid modifying poly(vinyl alcohol) hydrogel and its electroresponsive behavior under DC electric field

A strong electrolyte hydrogel was prepared by modifying poly (vinyl alcohol) hydrogel with sulfoacetic acid (SA-PVA). Its swelling properties, mechanical properties, and electroresponsive behavior in Na2SO4 solutions were studied. The results indicated that the water take-up ability of the hydrogel decreased with the increasing ionic strength of Na2SO4 solution. The Young's modulus, elongation at break and tensile strength of the hydrogel swollen in deionized water are 1.247 MPa, 187% and 2.2 MPa, respectively. The hydrogel swollen in a Na2SO4 solution bent towards the cathode under non-contact dc electric fields, and its bending speed and equilibrium strain increased with increasing applied voltage. There is a critical ionic strength of 0.03 at which the maximum equilibrium strain of the hydrogel occurs. Also the bending behavior of hydrogel was not affected by the pH changes. By altering the direction of the applied potential cyclically, the hydrogel exhibited good reversible bending behavior. On this basis, a gel-worm was designed. Under a cyclically varying electric field (the period was 8 s, and the voltage ranged from 10 to 10 V), the walking speed was up to 15 cm min(-1) in Na2SO4 solution with an ionic strength of 0.03.