Production of reduced graphene oxide‐based electrically conductive hydrogel by using modified chitosan

Abstract

ABSTRACT Herein, a new approach was applied to produce reduced graphene oxide (RGO)‐based conductive hydrogel by using modified chitosan (CTS) as a primary constituent. A variety amounts of RGO (from 0 to 15%) were incorporated into the polymeric network generated by photopolymerization of CTS‐graft‐glycidyl methacrylate (CTS‐g‐GMA) and poly(ethylene glycol)diacrylate (PEGDA). The structures of hydrogels were confirmed by FT‐IR, XRD, and SEM analyses. Water uptake capacity of hydrogels determined gravimetrically. L929 fibroblast cells were used for cytotoxicity test. According to conductivity measurements carried out by four‐point probe technique, the highest conductivity (1.716 × 10 −3 S/cm) was obtained when 10% RGO was encapsulated into the polymeric structure. From the results, it could be envisaged that electroconductive hydrogel (ECH) fabricated in this study could have a potential usage for biosensor applications in the future projects. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019 , 136 , 48008.