Enhancement of water absorption capacity and compressibility of hydrogel sponges prepared from gelatin/chitosan matrix with different polyols

The hydrogel sponges have prepared successfully from gelatin/chitosan (GEL/CTS) matrix with different polyols basing on scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis. The results indicate that the compressibility and thermal properties (thermal gravimetric analysis, TGA) were improved significantly with adding the different polyols [poly(vinyl alcohol) – PVA, and poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(propylene glycol)- poly(ethylene glycol) – PEPEG] into GEL/CTS matrix. Specially, the as-prepared hydrogel sponges with superabsorbent behavior were also investigated with the attained water absorption capacity to 605 ​g ​g−1 and 585 ​g ​g−1 for GCV_1/1/0.3 and GCE_1/1/0.3 sponges, respectively, as well as the excellent water absorption capacity in a wide range of pH and salt concentration. Hence, these studies demonstrated that the hydrogel sponges are concerned as potential and promising candidates to apply especially in the fields of biomedicine and hygiene.