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Hydrogels are one of the emerging classes of materials in current research. Besides their numerous applications in the medical sector as a drug delivery system or in tissue replacement, they are also suitable as irrigation components or as immobilization matrices in catalysis. For optimal application of these compounds, knowledge of the swelling properties and the diffusion mechanisms occurring in the gels is mandatory. This study is focused on hydrogels synthesized by radical polymerization of imidazolium-based ionic liquids. Both the swelling and diffusion behavior of these hydrogels were investigated via gravimetric swelling as well as sorption experiments implemented in water, ethanol, n-heptane, and tetrahydrofuran. In water and ethanol, strong swelling was observed while the transport mechanism deviated from Fickian-type behavior. By varying the counterion and the chain length of the cation, their influences on the processes were observed. The calculation of the diffusion coefficients delivered values in the range of 10−10 to 10−12 m2 s−1. The gravimetric results were supported by apparent diffusion coefficients measured through diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging. A visualization of the water diffusion front within the hydrogel should help to further elucidate the diffusion processes in the imidazolium-based hydrogels.

Hydrogels, based on polymerized ionic liquids, are increasingly used in the medical and pharmaceutical industry as implants, drug delivery systems, contact lens material, bone substitutes and stent coatings. Therefore they need to be biocompatible, flexible and resistant to external stress. In order to meet these requirements, there is a large interest in design, synthesis and characterization of these interesting polymers. In this work, mechanical properties such as gelation kinetics, shear strain resistance, and response to compression and stretching of ten different polymerized ionic liquid-based hydrogels were examined, completing the picture of the rheological behavior of these materials. Interestingly, the investigations of stretching measurements showed a wide range of critical strains leading to failure from 4.8 ± 1.1 to 47.9 ± 15.1%and in compression measurements critical strain from 7.8 ± 3.6 to higher than 59.8 ± 17.3%, as well as a linear viscoelastic range in shear from 14 ± 8 to 267 ± 26%. These results allow improved design with a “choose-the-best-material”-toolbox for medical applications.