I am making a hydrogel in a rectangular shape by crosslinking synthesis. However, the material shrinks after crosslinking and form many voids and holes in the material, so the material is not a perfect rectangular. I used glass slides to sandwich the material for reaction. My question is how to avoid the crosslinking shrinkage and how to make the material shape perfect without defect? Is there any other methods other than glass slides sandwich the material? Thanks.
Hi Amin, I agree the shrinkage is due to chemical bond formation. But I can't decrease crosslinker amount due to reaction design. And one phenomena is as the reaction time goes longer, the shrinkage goes sever.
although long time has passed, but. As Amin suggested, crosslinker concentration or crosslinking time should be controled to decrease the shrinkage.
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