Novel Polyacrylamide/Polypyrrole Hydrogel for Electrically Controlled Release of Salicylic Acid

Polyacrylamide/polypyrrole (PAM/PPy) hydrogel was developed for the application in controlled drug delivery. PAM/PPy hydrogel was synthesized via free-radical polymerization of acrylamide using ammonium persulfate (APS) as initiator in the dispersion of PPy nanoparticle. N,N’-methylenebisacrylamide (MBA) and N,N,N’,N’-tetra-methylenediamine (TEMED) were utilized as cross-linker and accelerator, respectively. Salicylic acid (SA) was selected as a model drug in this work. The effect of PPy contents on SA-loading and releasing performances was investigated. The more PPy content was incorporated, the greater SA-loading and releasing were found. This is attributed to the increasing pore size of the PAM hydrogel when PPy nanoparticles were incorporated. Drug releasing performance from the SA-loaded PAM/PPy hydrogel were controllable under the applied potential of 1.0 volt. The research exhibits the potential of using conductive polymer hydrogel to control the drug release rate at an optimal desired level.