Magnetite-Polyvinylalcohol Ferrogels Obtained by a Cryogenic Technique

JIMENA SOLEDAD GONZALEZ; CRISTINA HOPPE; VERA ALEJANDRA ALVAREZ

Donostia-San Sebastián

Simposio; 11th European Symposium on Polymer Blends; 2012

Magnetic gels are attractive functional materials with multiple and diverse applications in advanced fields, such as soft sensors, artificial muscles, drug delivery devices, among others [1-2]. An interesting way to obtain these materials is to disperse magnetic nanostructures in a polymer gel. Polyvinylalcohol PVA, was selected in this work because it is a well-known biocompatible polymer with a good gel forming capability [3]. Magnetite (Fe3O4) nanoparticles (NPs) have long been accepted as potential components in biomedical devices due to their non-toxic behavior [4].These NPs were stabilized in a water solution by charge (“non-coated” samples) or with a polymeric coating, Poly(acrylic acid) PAA, (“PAA-coated” samples). Ferrogels were obtained by dispersion of these particles in PVA solutions followed by application of freezing–thawing (FT) cycles to produce a physical network. Thermal and morphological characterization of the obtained materials was carried out and related with the chemical nature of the NPs coating.