Effects of pressure on the cross-linking behavior of hyaluronic acid-functionalized boric acid cross-linked poly(vinyl alcohol) hydrogels

With their excellent properties, hydrogels have attracted much attention for their potential application. However, it is still necessary to study the influencing factors of the hydrogel preparation process and its self-healing mechanism. In this paper, the preparation method of boric acid (BA) cross-linked poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)/hyaluronic acid (HA) hydrogel appeared to become studied in order to explore the effect of pressure in the cross-linking process. Associated with, PVA and HA were combined, and then the mixture was cross-linked with BA to produce BA-PVA/HA hydrogel. The state of the hydrogel after cross-linking was transformed after centrifugal pressure method, and its performance was analyzed experimentally. Compared with the BA-PVA/HA hydrogel without centrifugal supercharging, the hydrogel after centrifugation has lower water content and lubricating effect, and the surface hardness is improved at the same time. In addition, the BA-PVA/HA hydrogel has no external stimulation at room temperature, can also self-heal quickly have based on hydrogen bonds, and has good recyclability. These results indicate that adding centrifugation steps in the preparation of BA-PVA/HA hydrogels could properly switch the state of the hydrogels, which is expected to provide a certain research basis for the preparation and application of hydrogels.