Water sorption in polymer network films synthesised from PEO oligomers containing acrylic and vinyl ether functionalities

Summary

Poly(ethylene oxide) oligomers, with end groups that have either acrylic or vinyl ether functionalities, were photopolymerised by UV radiation to create polymer networks in the form of thin films. Moisture sorption of the polymers, determined by microgravimetric analysis, was correlated to the oligomer structure, i.e. to the PEO chain length and to the type of unsaturation. The data can be described with a Fickian diffusion model using diffusion coefficients of water in the polymer networks on the order of 1 × 10⁻¹² m²/s. The total amount of water sorption at equilibrium saturation increases with an increasing number of EO units in the oligomer used to synthesise the network.

The number of absorbed water molecules associated with each EO unit increases with the number of these units in the oligomer until it reaches two water molecules per EO unit, for acrylated-PEO oligomers (PEGDA) having at least 30 EO units. The type of interactions between the polymer network and water were evaluated by means of thermal analysis performed on the hydrated films. It was found that all water is present as bound rather than mobile water.