Synthesis and Characterization of PVA Ferrogels obtained through a One-pot Freezing-Thawing Procedure

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

COLLOID AND POLYMER SCIENCE

SPRINGER

Lugar: Berlin; Año: 2011 vol. 289 p. 1839 - 1846

0303-402X

Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) ferrogels were easilyobtained through a one-pot technique that involves coprecipitationof iron salts in the presence of a PVA solution,followed by freezing–thawing cycles of the resultingnanoparticles (NPs) dispersions. The protecting effect ofPVA enabled the synthesis of small magnetic NPs that didnot agglomerate in the initial solution allowing thesynthesis of well-dispersed ferrogels by physical crosslinking.Physical properties of the physically cross-linkedferrogels, as swelling ability, melting temperature, andcrystallinity, were barely affected by the presence of NPs,presenting similar or improved values when compared withchemically cross-linked systems. Ferrogels showed superparamagneticproperties at room temperature that combinedwith the absence of toxic residues arising from crosslinkingagents make them ideal candidates for their use inbiomedical applications (artificial muscles, drug delivery,and sensors among others).