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Developing Transparent and Conductive PolyHEMA Gels Using Deep Eutectic Solvents

Poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (polyHEMA) hydrogels are commonly used in biomaterials such as contact lenses. However, water evaporation from these hydrogels can cause discomfort to wearers, and the bulk polymerization method used to synthesize them often results in heterogeneous microstructures,...

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Autores principales: Chen, Tai-Yu, Jiang, Yi-Jie, Chien, Hsiu-Wen
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10302097/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37376251
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/polym15122605
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author Chen, Tai-Yu
Jiang, Yi-Jie
Chien, Hsiu-Wen
author_facet Chen, Tai-Yu
Jiang, Yi-Jie
Chien, Hsiu-Wen
author_sort Chen, Tai-Yu
collection PubMed
description Poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (polyHEMA) hydrogels are commonly used in biomaterials such as contact lenses. However, water evaporation from these hydrogels can cause discomfort to wearers, and the bulk polymerization method used to synthesize them often results in heterogeneous microstructures, reducing their optical properties and elasticity. In this study, we synthesized polyHEMA gels using a deep eutectic solvent (DES) instead of water and compared their properties to traditional hydrogels. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) showed that HEMA conversion in DES was faster than in water. DES gels also demonstrated higher transparency, toughness, and conductivity, along with lower dehydration, than hydrogels. The compressive and tensile modulus values of DES gels increased with HEMA concentration. A DES gel with 45% HEMA showed excellent compression–relaxation cycles and had the highest strain at break value in the tensile test. Our findings suggest that DES is a promising alternative to water for synthesizing contact lenses with improved optical and mechanical properties. Furthermore, DES gels’ conduction properties may enable their application in biosensors. This study presents an innovative approach to synthesizing polyHEMA gels and provides insights into their potential applications in the biomaterials field.
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spelling pubmed-103020972023-06-29 Developing Transparent and Conductive PolyHEMA Gels Using Deep Eutectic Solvents Chen, Tai-Yu Jiang, Yi-Jie Chien, Hsiu-Wen Polymers (Basel) Article Poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (polyHEMA) hydrogels are commonly used in biomaterials such as contact lenses. However, water evaporation from these hydrogels can cause discomfort to wearers, and the bulk polymerization method used to synthesize them often results in heterogeneous microstructures, reducing their optical properties and elasticity. In this study, we synthesized polyHEMA gels using a deep eutectic solvent (DES) instead of water and compared their properties to traditional hydrogels. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) showed that HEMA conversion in DES was faster than in water. DES gels also demonstrated higher transparency, toughness, and conductivity, along with lower dehydration, than hydrogels. The compressive and tensile modulus values of DES gels increased with HEMA concentration. A DES gel with 45% HEMA showed excellent compression–relaxation cycles and had the highest strain at break value in the tensile test. Our findings suggest that DES is a promising alternative to water for synthesizing contact lenses with improved optical and mechanical properties. Furthermore, DES gels’ conduction properties may enable their application in biosensors. This study presents an innovative approach to synthesizing polyHEMA gels and provides insights into their potential applications in the biomaterials field. MDPI 2023-06-08 /pmc/articles/PMC10302097/ /pubmed/37376251 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/polym15122605 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Chen, Tai-Yu
Jiang, Yi-Jie
Chien, Hsiu-Wen
Developing Transparent and Conductive PolyHEMA Gels Using Deep Eutectic Solvents
title Developing Transparent and Conductive PolyHEMA Gels Using Deep Eutectic Solvents
title_full Developing Transparent and Conductive PolyHEMA Gels Using Deep Eutectic Solvents
title_fullStr Developing Transparent and Conductive PolyHEMA Gels Using Deep Eutectic Solvents
title_full_unstemmed Developing Transparent and Conductive PolyHEMA Gels Using Deep Eutectic Solvents
title_short Developing Transparent and Conductive PolyHEMA Gels Using Deep Eutectic Solvents
title_sort developing transparent and conductive polyhema gels using deep eutectic solvents
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10302097/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37376251
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/polym15122605
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