Compositional and Temperature Effects on the Rheological Properties of Polyelectrolyte–Surfactant Hydrogels

The rheological properties of hydrogels prepared by physical interactions between oppositely charged polyelectrolyte and surfactant in micellar form were studied. Specifically, hyaluronan was employed as a negatively charged polyelectrolyte and Septonex (carbethopendecinium bromide) as a cationic surfactant. Amino-modified dextran was used as a positively charged polyelectrolyte interacting with sodium dodecylsulphate as an anionic surfactant. The effects of the preparation method, surfactant concentration, ionic strength (the concentration of NaCl background electrolyte), pH (buffers), multivalent cations, and elevated temperature on the properties were investigated. The formation of gels required an optimum ionic strength (set by the NaCl solution), ranging from 0.15–0.3 M regardless of the type of hydrogel system and surfactant concentration. The other compositional effects and the effect of temperature were dependent on the polyelectrolyte type or its molecular weight. General differences between the behaviour of hyaluronan-based and cationized dextran-based materials were attributed to differences in the chain conformations of the two biopolymers and in the accessibility of their charged groups.