Hi. I was able to synthesize hydrogel by crosslinking polyvinyl alcohol with borax and by reinforcing with a filler (silica from rice husks and cellulose). One week after my synthesis, however, the gels became dehyrdated and turned into a thin film. How can I avoid this?
Keep your gel with an little excess of solvent (here water), in a sealed container (tube of any glass tightly closed vessel). People even sometimes even add a layer of oil on the top of the liquid, for being totally sure that no exchange with the atmosphere will ocur.
Alain
Keep your hydrogels inside well sealed tubes. With that, dehydration will be minimized or even eliminated completely.
We just keep hydrogels in self-sealing plastic bags. PVA hydrogels do not swell too much, so you can also put some water in the bag.
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