A Simple and Efficient Procedure for the Synthesis of Magnetic Gels Based on PVA

JIMENA SOLEDAD GONZALEZ; CRISTINA HOPPE; FRANCISCO SANCHEZ; VERA ALEJANDRA ALVAREZ

Praga

Conferencia; 7th International Conference on Nanostructured Polymers and Nanocomposites; 2012

Magnetic gels consisting of magnetic nanoparticles (NPs) embedded in polymer gels are an important category of stimuli-sensitive polymers that respond to external magnetic fields1. They are mechanically soft and highly elastic and, at the same time, exhibit a strong magnetic response2. In the last years, these gels have been the subject of many studies as the typical example of smart materials that can be used for drug release. The use of a magnetic field to modulate the rate of drug delivery from polyvinylalcohol (PVA) matrices can conduct to the development of fast-responsive systems that ?inject? a precise dose of drug when the body needs it and can ?stop? or ?slow? the release right after the injection. The use of polymer gels in the synthesis of magnetic NPs can be advantageous because NPs size can be controlled during nucleation and growth of iron oxide NPs through the constrained architecture provided by the polymer network3. The aims of this work are to obtain and characterize a new kind of ferrogels by infusion of iron salts in PVA hydrogels and subsequent coprecipitation of magnetic NPs inside the hydrogel.