Electroresponsive Behavior of Sodium Alginate-g-Poly (acrylic acid) Hydrogel Under DC Electric Field

A novel sodium alginate-graft-poly(acrylic acid) (SA-g-PAA) hydrogel was prepared by radical graft copolymerization with ammonium persulfate (APS) as initiator and N,N'-methylene-bis-(acrylamide) (MBAA) as crosslinker, and its swelling properties and electroresponsive behavior in aqueous NaCl solutions were studied. The results indicated that the water take-up ability of the hydrogel decreased with the increasing ionic strength of aqueous NaCl solution. The hydrogel swollen in a NaCl solution bent toward the cathode under non-contact dc electric fields, and its bending speed and equilibrium strain increased with the increasing of applied voltage. With the increasing of ionic strength of aqueous NaCl solution, the equilibrium strain of the hydrogel increased first and then decreased gradually. The maximum equilibrium strain occurs when the ionic strength of aqueous NaCl solution is 0.03. By changing the direction of the applied potential cyclically, the hydrogel exhibited good reversible bending behavior.