College
College of Engineering (COE)
Date of Last Revision
2023-05-03 16:47:43
Major
Chemical Engineering - Cooperative Education
Honors Course
4200:497
Number of Credits
2
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science
Date of Expected Graduation
Spring 2020
Abstract
Hydrogels are known to be weak and brittle, due to the amounts of water that they hold. Gelatin-based hydrogels specifically are inexpensive and easily accessible, but often have poor physical properties. The goal of my project was to strengthen gelatin-based hydrogels and improve their mechanical properties by forming these hydrogels in different aqueous solutions containing kosmotropic Hofmeister's ions. Prior research has shown that these ions are able to take water away from gelatin-based gels, which forms a tougher hydrogel. The success of this project will be measured by studying the solubility and swelling effects that different Hofmeister ions have on these gelatin-based hydrogels. Solubility studies provided correlation on how temperature, salt solution concentration, and gelatin concentration correlate to gel solubility. This data was further used for the swelling/de-swelling studies. Determination of toughened hydrogels was measured by the ability to deswell when soaked in the Hofmeister ion contention solution. Through various swelling/de-swelling tests, an optimal combination of temperature and salt solution containing a Hofmeister ion can be used to strengthen the hydrogels through swelling/de-swelling.
Research Sponsor
Bi-min Zhang Newby
First Reader
Walter Salamant
Second Reader
Roya Gitiafroz
Honors Faculty Advisor
Bi-min Zhang Newby
Recommended Citation
Eldridge, Hannah, "Effects of Hofmeister ions on solubility and swelling on gelatin hydrogels" (2020). Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects. 1143.
https://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/honors_research_projects/1143