Bending behaviors of electroresponsive PVA/PAA SIPN hydrogels under electric field

Semi-Interpenetrating networks (SIPN) hydrogel composed of poly (acrylic acid) (PAA) and poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) was prepared by using Ammonium persulfate (APS) and sodium bisulfite as initiator and glutaraldehyde as crosslinking agent. The structure and microscopic morphology were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscope (SEM), respectively. The results showed that PVA and PAA formed the interpenetrating network and there are lots of pores were evenly dispersed in hydrogel matrix. The electric stimuli responsive measurement results indicated the hydrogel bent toward the anode initially when it was placed in a high concentration NaCl aqueous solution. When the NaCl solution concentration is low, the hydrogel bent toward the cathode and kept invariant. The effects of different applied voltage and different AA contents on bending behaviors of hydrogel were also investigated.