Biocompatible and biodegradable chitosan/sodium polyacrylate polyelectrolyte complex hydrogels with smart responsiveness

Bulk homogeneous polyelectrolyte complex hydrogels (PCH) are difficult to prepare due to the flocculation effect between polyelectrolytes with opposite charges. Herein, novel chitosan/sodium polyacrylate (PAAS) polyelectrolyte complex hydrogels (CPG) were fabricated successfully by cross-linking chitosan and PAAS with epichlorohydrin (ECH) through inhibiting protonation effect of chitosan in alkali/urea aqueous solution. The swelling behaviors of CPG were studied systematically in different solutions. The equilibrium swelling ratio of chitosan hydrogel in water increased dramatically from 46.3 to 404.8 g/g by the introduction of PAAS. CPG exhibited different swelling ratios towards different pH solutions, physiological solutions and salt solutions with different concentrations, showing obvious smart responsive properties. Moreover, CPG hydrogels exhibited relatively high compressive strength, good biocompatibility and in vitro biodegradability. Therefore, this work provided a novel PCH and shed light on the fabrication of other PCH, showing potential applications in the fields of agriculture, foods, tissue engineering and drug delivery.