Aggregation Behavior of Nano-Silica in Polyvinyl Alcohol/Polyacrylamide Hydrogels Based on Dissipative Particle Dynamics

Polymers

Yingfeng Zhang¹  Yanen Wang¹  Qinghua Wei¹  Xiongbiao Chen² 

[1] Department of Industry Engineering, College of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710072, China;Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N5A9, Canada;

关键词: nano-silica;    PVA/PAM blended hydrogel;    dissipative particle dynamics;    aggregation behavior;    relative concentration distributions;   

DOI  :  10.3390/polym9110611

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Due to the aggregation behavior of nano-silica in aqueous solution, the use of nano-silica without surface modification for synthesizing hydrogels is still a challenging task. This paper presents our study on the use of dissipative particle dynamics simulations to discover the aggregation behavior of nano-silica in polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/polyacrylamide (PAM) blended hydrogels. By simulations, we aimed at investigating the effects of such factors as nano-silica content, polymer component ratio, temperature and shear rate on the aggregation behavior of nano-silica in terms of the mesoscopic morphologies and the relative concentration distribution functions. Our results reveal that the dispersion of nano-silica is seen if the nano-silica content is increased to 1.5%, and the aggregation of nano-silica becomes noticeable in blended hydrogels with an increase in the nano-silica content. This finding agrees well with the experimental results obtained by means of scanning electron microscopy. Furthermore, it is also found that the dispersion of nano-silica becomes more uniform with an increase in PAM content, temperature and shear rate. These findings greatly enrich our understanding of the aggregation behavior of nano-silica in PVA/PAM blended hydrogels.

【 授权许可】

Unknown