Microgel-reinforced PVA hydrogel with self-healing and hyaluronic acid drug-releasing properties

A beneficial mircogel-reinforced polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) hydrogel is presented, aiming at improving its mechanical strength, self-healing, and drug-releasing features. The guar gum based microgel was prepared by inverse emulsion polymerization and cross-reacted with PVA and borax to form a network structure. The macro cross-linker and the PVA polymer chain were strongly bonded to generate a self-healable microgel-reinforced PVA hydrogel. The hydrogel was incorporated with hyaluronic acid and simulated its drug-releasing behavior. This work suggests that the microgel reinforced of macro-crosslinking PVA networks gives them a great potential in the design of self-healing and drug-releasing hydrogels.