The Effect of PVA/Cs Ratio on Poly (vinyl alcohol)/Chitosan Hydrogel Performance

Poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and chitosan (Cs) are the polymers of great interest because of their many favorable characteristics specifically for various pharmaceutical and biomedical applications. The ratio of PVA/Cs is an important parameter in preparation of corresponding hydrogels that affects their physical and mechanical properties. In this work, poly (vinyl alcohol)/chitosan (PVA/Cs) hydrogel with three-dimensional network structure was developed by cyclic freezing-thawing process. The appropriate ratio of PVA/Cs for preparation hydrogel with desirable physical and mechanical properties was chosen as 4/1. The gel fraction value of chosen hydrogel was achieved 60%.