Abstract
In this article, three families of polysaccharide-co-polyacrylate copolymer hydrogels were synthesized by free radical polymerization. The water absorbencies of the starch-co-polyacrylate, alginate-co-polyacrylate and chitosan-co-polyacrylate hydrogels were 1170, 1190 and 1350 g/g, respectively. The influences of crosslinker, initiator, neutralization degree, monomer concentration and the polysaccharide dosage on the water absorbency of the hydrogels were thoroughly investigated. The molecular structures, thermal stability and morphology of the copolymer hydrogels were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). To improve the conductivity, polysaccharide-co-polyacrylate/polyaniline conducting hydrogels with interpenetrating network structures were produced by in-situ polyaniline of aniline based on the high water absorbency of the copolymer hydrogels. The novel conducting hydrogels present good electrical and electrochemical behaviour, which makes them potentially useful in supercapacitors, biosensors, bioelectronics, solar cells and memory devices.