Abstract:
In this article, we prepared the self-healing hydrogels based on sodium carboxymethyl cellulose/poly(vinyl alcohol) reinforced by montmorillonite. The hydrogels were prepared by the acidifying method, in which Na+ of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose were replaced by H+ of acid and hydrogen bonds between CMC and PVA occurred. In addition, montmorillonite was added into hydrogels to improve their mechanical and self-healing properties. In morphology analysis, it showed good distribution of MMT in the hydrogels, while the pore size decrease and the pore wall increased with the presence of montmorillonite in the hydrogels. Mechanical properties of hydrogels were measured by tensile and compressive tests. The hydrogels showed tensile strength values of 35.0-64.0 kPa and compressive strength values of 7.3-20.3 kPa depending on PVA and MMT contents. The higher amount of PVA and MMT, the higher mechanical properties were obtained. The self-healing efficiency of hydrogels can be calculated by the tensile strength of original hydrogels and healed hydrogels, indicating that the hydrogel with 1% PVA and 1% MMT (P1C8M1) displayed the highest healing efficiency (94%). For cytotoxicity test, the hydrogels were not toxic to Vero cells. Therefore, the hydrogels could self-healed after the damage and non-toxic for cell.