Radiation Synthesis of Rapidly Self‐Healing Hydrogel Derived from Poly(acrylic acid) with Good Mechanical Strength
Mohamed Mohamady Ghobashy, Nour E. A. Abd El‐Sattar
Abstract
Abstract This article aims at designing a new self‐healing hydrogel with good mechanical strength. A new class of carbamothioyl monomer of N ‐((2‐((2‐aminoethyl)amino)ethyl)carbamothioyl)acrylamide (AECAm) is derived from acrylic acid monomer in mild conditions. The copolymerization of acrylic acid (30%) with 10% of AECAm is performed in aqueous media via radical polymerization induced by gamma irradiation at a dose of 30 kGy. The obtained p(AAc/AECAm) hydrogel exhibits rapid self‐healing in 3 s without any external agent assistance (host interaction) because of the electrostatic interactions and intermolecular hydrogen bonding formation between PAAc and PAECAm matrices. The AECAm is containing carbamothioyl and acrylamide moieties that are performed using 1 H NMR, Fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy, and UV spectroscopy measurements. The reactivity descriptors for AECAm monomer in keto form using density functional theory are investigated. The experimental results indicate that the AECAm molecules form enol and keto tautomeric structures when it converts from monomer to polymer form. This interesting feature gives p(AAc/AECAm) hydrogel the rapid self‐healing property (3 s) and a good mechanical strength (8.48–107.9 kPa) under the successive loading conditions. These results indicate that the p(AAc/AECAm) hydrogel can find application in biomaterial proposal and may function as a template for generating artificial articular cartilage.