Novel Hydrogels Modified with Xanthan Gum – Synthesis and Characterization

Due to their interesting features, hydrogels are attracting growing interest in the polymer materials market. Therefore, many studies are currently conducted to characterize these materials and to modify them in order to increase the range of their potential use. In the presented article, hydrogels based on acrylic acid and chitosan and modified with xanthan gum were obtained by photopolymerization. Their swelling ability and behaviour in solutions that simulate fluids in the human body were determined. The effect of incubation in various fluids on the chemical structure of the synthesized materials was characterized using spectroscopic analysis. Furthermore, the surface morphology of the attained materials was characterized with scanning electron microscopy (SEM).