Drying of poloxamer hydrogel films

The drying of hydrogel films formed by Poloxamer 407 poly(ethylene oxide)-poly(propylene oxide)-poly(ethylene oxide) amphiphilic block copolymer was investigated at various air relative humidity (RH) conditions ranging from 11 to 97%. Initially, the amount of water lost increased linearly with the drying time. After this linear region (stage I), a nonlinear behavior was observed (stage II). The drying rate increased with decreasing RH, thus greatly shortening the drying time. A decrease of the film thickness also shortened the drying time; however, the drying mechanism did not change. Three models for one-dimensional water diffusion were used to fit the experimental results at different RH conditions and film thicknesses. Model 1 assumes semi-infinite medium and constant diffusion coefficient, and fits very well the data in stage I of the drying process. The fitted water diffusion coefficient (D) is 5 x 10(-10) m(2)/s, whereas the effects of the RH are captured by a proportionality constant (alpha) that appears in the boundary condition. Model 2 considers a finite (constant) film thickness and captures the experimental observations over the whole drying period for the same D and alpha as in Model 1. The analytical solutions available for Models 1 and 2, used together with the experimentally derived model parameters D and alpha, allow for easy estimation of drying time and water loss from Poloxamer hydrogel films of various compositions and thicknesses and at different relative humidities. Numerical solutions for water diffusion under conditions of decreasing film thickness and diffusion coefficient being a function of concentration are also presented (Model 3). It becomes apparent from the fit of the data to the different models that the drying rate is more sensitive to the boundary condition at the film-air interface (represented by alpha) than to the diffusion in the film. It is notable that the alpha values obtained from the fits of the Poloxamer hydrogel drying rate are comparable to those obtained from drying of water films under the same experimental conditions.