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Published on: April 7, 2017
High water content hydrogel with super high refractive index
Chuncai Zhou1, Daniel E Heath, Abdul Rahim Mohamed Sharif
1School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 62 Nanyang Drive, Singapore, 637459, Singapore.
Macromolecular Bioscience
|July 25, 2013
Summary
New hydrogels achieve high water content and high refractive index for ophthalmology. These transparent, cytocompatible materials overcome limitations of current hydrogel technology for eye applications.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Biomedical Engineering
- Ophthalmology
Background:
- Ophthalmological applications require hydrogels with high transparency, high water content (>65%), and high refractive index (RI >1.5).
- Existing hydrogels struggle to simultaneously achieve high water content and high RI due to water's low RI.
- Developing materials that meet these combined optical and physical demands is crucial for advanced ophthalmic devices.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop novel hydrogels with simultaneously high water content and high refractive index for ophthalmological use.
- To investigate the effect of monomer ratios and crosslinker density on hydrogel properties.
- To assess the optical and cytocompatibility characteristics of the fabricated hydrogels.
Main Methods:
- Fabrication of hydrogels via elevated-temperature UV polymerization of acrylamide (AM) and methacrylamide (MAM) solutions.
- Incorporation of tri(ethylene glycol) dimethacrylate (TEDA) as a crosslinker.
- Systematic variation of AM:MAM ratios (2:8 to 8:2) and TEDA crosslinker density (5 to 11 mol %).
- Characterization of water content, refractive index, transparency, and cytocompatibility.
Main Results:
- Achieved high water content (66%) AM:MAM copolymer hydrogels with anomalously high refractive indices (1.53).
- Hydrogels exhibited excellent transparency (99.4%) and were colorless.
- Demonstrated cytocompatibility with human keratinocytes, indicating suitability for biological applications.
Conclusions:
- Successfully developed high water content, high refractive index hydrogels using AM:MAM copolymers.
- These novel hydrogels meet critical optical and biocompatibility requirements for ophthalmological applications.
- The tunable properties offer a promising platform for advanced intraocular lenses and other ophthalmic devices.
