Information
Properties of an Aquagel
Akina has developed superporous hydrogels (aquagels) with the following properties:
Fast Responsiveness
Conventional aquagels (hydrogels) respond (i.e., swell or shrink) to environmental changes too slowly for many applications. Our superporous hydrogel technology allows preparation of hydrogel systems that change their dimensions in a matter of a minute regardless of their sizes.
High Swelling Ratio
Superporous hydrogels swell not only fast but also to very large sizes. The swelling ratio (size of the swollen hydrogel/size of the dry hydrogel) can be as large as several hundred. To maintain the mechanical strength of a fully swollen hydrogels, the swelling ratio can be lowered to less than 100 by increasing the crosslinking density. The enhanced mechanical property can also be obtained by making superporous hydrogel composites and/or elastic superporous hydrogels.
Elasticity
Superporous hydrogels swell in water in less than a minute regardless of their sizes. Since more than 90% of the weight of the swollen superporous hydrogels is water, they are usually mechanically weak. Akina has developed elastic superporous hydrogels that can stretch more than 100% of their original size. The high elasticity also makes the superporous hydrogels mechanically resilient. The elastic superporous hydrogels are ideal for various applications ranging from oral controlled release formulations to tissue engineering applications.
Sol-Gel Phase-Reversibility
Sol-gel phase-reversible systems find many applications in pharmaceutical, biomedical, and commodity areas. Akina has developed new inverse temperature-sensitive polymers based on widely available cellulose polymers. The low cost of Akina's temperature-sensitive phase-reversible hydrogels are highly attractive in various applications ranging from environment-sensitive drug delivery systems to commodity products.
Key Benefits
- Extremely fast swelling
- Large swelling with elastic property
- Various application possibilities