Gels with Adjustable Antifreezing Properties by Regulating the Ratio of Polymer Monomers

Vast majority of hydrogels are at risk of being frozen, which severely limits their applications in many fields. There are numerous methods for preparing gels with antifreezing properties. This paper puts forward a special method to improve the antifreezing property of gels by adjusting the ratio of polymer monomers. In the binary solvent of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)/water, the total mass of the two polymer monomers, acrylic acid (AA) and acrylamide (AM), remained unchanged. With the increase of AA concentration, the binding ability of the polymer chains to water molecules was enhanced, and the content of bound water in the gel was increased, which significantly improved the antifreezing performance of the gel (←80 °C). In addition, DMSO, as a strong hydrogen bond receptor, can form strong hydrogen bond interactions with water molecules, disturb the hydrogen bond network of water, improve the freeze resistance of the gel, and have a certain impact on the dispersion of polymer chains and the mechanical properties of the gel. Therefore, based on the gel's good frost resistance and stable electrical signal output at low temperatures, it can be used as a low-temperature sensor for object recognition and classification in cold-chain logistics and cold storage.