Effect of water concentration on the shock response of polyethylene glycol diacrylate (PEGDA) hydrogels: A molecular dynamics study

Manufacturing of poly(ethylene glycol diacrylate)-based hollow microvessels using microfluidics

“… 43–46 Other research groups, including Uwamori et al 40 and Daniele et al , 47 have used fibrin gel and poly(ethylene glycol) dimethacrylate (PEGDMA) for the polymer-based foundations of their microvessels. However, based on the literature, 44–46 PEDGA may behave more suitably as the tissue foundation for our synthetic microvessels, due to the molecular toughness and defined permeability of the polymer. 44–46 After the overlaying of core (PEG), cladding (PEDGA), and sheath (PEG) solutions, a photopolymerization reaction is applied to produce solid, hollow microvessels.…”

“…However, based on the literature, 44–46 PEDGA may behave more suitably as the tissue foundation for our synthetic microvessels, due to the molecular toughness and defined permeability of the polymer. 44–46 After the overlaying of core (PEG), cladding (PEDGA), and sheath (PEG) solutions, a photopolymerization reaction is applied to produce solid, hollow microvessels. The viability of utilizing a photopolymerization reaction with microfluidics to solidify polymer-based materials and mixtures has been investigated extensively by other groups.…”

An Insight into Structural and Mechanical Properties of Ideal‐Networked Poly(Ethylene Glycol)–Peptide Hydrogels from Molecular Dynamics Simulations

“…It is worth mentioning here that the bulk densities obtained from this work for PEGDA‐10 kDa (86%) and PEG‐3‐peptide (84%) are 1.027 and 1.031 (±0.002) g cm −3 , respectively and PEG‐9‐peptide with 84%, 86%, 88%, and 90% by weight of water are 1.032, 1.029, 1.027, 1.024 (±0.002) g cm −3 , respectively. A comparison of data from previous simulation work for low‐molecular‐weight PEGDA hydrogels ( n = 13 and n = 23) displays densities of 1.019 ± 0.002 and 1.021 ± 0.001 g cm −3 , respectively, at 70% water uptake . Increasing water concentration at a given molecular weight, for example in PEGDA ( n = 13) from 30% to 80% results in decrease in densities from 1.184 ± 0.001 to 1.007 ± 0.001 g cm −3 .…”

“…Experimental data from Witte et al also revealed density ranging from 1.183 to 1.021 g cm −3 for the PEGDA ( n = 13) system. Similar trends are also observed in PEG‐9‐peptide in our simulations with increasing water uptake, and the reported density values for the simulated systems fall in the general range observed for PEGDA‐based hydrogels . It is noteworthy to mention that the high macromer concentrations used in inverse‐emulsion polymerization to synthesize the hydrogels that are of interest in this work influences the comparison, given the differences arising in the swelling ratios at these high concentrations.…”

“…Yanbin et al studied PEG‐diacrylate (PEGDA) ideal networks focusing on the effect of changing molecular weight between cross‐links (572 to 3400 g mol −1 ) on the diffusion behavior of small molecules, water, and ions through the network for drug delivery applications. Recently, Luo et al also performed atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of PEGDA hydrogels (572 and 1000 g mol −1 molecular mass between cross‐links) to study the variation in shockwave propagation behavior with water concentration in these hydrogel systems. Double network hydrogels of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) and poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) were simulated by Jang et al and the structural and mechanical properties, and diffusion of small solute molecules were compared with single network hydrogels of PEO and PAA for controlled drug release applications.…”