Drying of PAAm hydrogels at various temperatures: A fluorescence study

The steady-state fluorescence (SSF) technique was employed for studying the drying of polyacrylamide (PAAm) hydrogels. Disc-shaped hydrogels were prepared by free-radical crosslinking copolymerization of acrylamide (AAm) with N,N'-methylene bisacrylamide (BIS) as crosslinker in the presence of ammonium persulfate (APS) as an initiator. Pyranine (P) was introduced as a fluorescence probe and the intensity of pyranine was monitored during in situ drying at various temperatures. It was observed that the fluorescence intensity of pyranine increased during the drying process. A supporting, gravimetrical experiment was also performed. A phenomenological equation was introduced to determine the desorption coefficient, D, of water molecules from the drying hydrogels at various temperatures. The desorption activation energy, Ed, values were measured for the drying processes and found to be 91.08 and 36.82 kJ mol-1 by fluorescence and gravimetrical methods, respectively. This difference most probably originates from the origin of the techniques; the fluorescence technique measures the parameters at a molecular level, whereas the gravimetrical technique measures a parameter in the bulk.