Study Of Polyelectrolyte/Hydrophobic Association Conductive Hydrogel

In the present paper,a conductive polyelectrolyte hydrogel was prepared via a radical copolymerization method using acrylamide,lauryl methacrylate,sodium acrylate,and N,N-methylenebisacrylamide as the monomers.The hydrogel possesses a double network structure:one is formed by the polymerization of the cross-linking monomer,N,N-methylenebisacrylamide,and the other one is obtained by the formation of hydrophobic association of the hydrophobic monomer,lauryl methacrylate.Besides,the monomer of sodium acrylate was designed to give the gel with conductivity.After optimization of the synthesis conditions,the properties,including tensile performance,compression behavior,electrical conductivity and self-healing ability were characterized.The experimental results show that the resulting hydrogel can give an elasticity modulus more than 14 KPa,a tensile elongation about1400 %,and a conductivity closed to 1.6 S·M-1.Moreover,the gel can be compressed more than80 % before it was broken,and the conductivity of the damaged gel is recoverable by its self-healing.Basing on the results,a composite gel having treble networks is further developed.A cationic monomer,methylacryloyloxygenethyl trimethylammoniumbromide,is added to form ionic cross-linking bonds with sodium acrylate,and graphite powder is applied as conductive filler.The characterization results reveal that the composite hydrogel exhibits good properties: 750 KPa elasticity modulus,2.1 S·M-1 conductivity,and compressing rate over than 80 %.Furthermore,pH-responsive behavior,salt sensitivity,and electric field sensitivity were observed.