Preparation and Characterization of Hydrogels containing Silicone or Fluorine

The water-swollen hydrogels containing silicone or fluorine were prepared by copolymerization of 2-hydroxy ethyl methacylate (HEMA) with 3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl methacrylate(SM) or 2,2,2-trifluoroethyl acrylate(FA). When the content of SM or FA increased in copolymers, there was tendency of water absorbance to decrease, whereas contact angles to increase. The hydrogels containing FA showed 2 ~ 4% higher water content and 4 ~ 5% lower contact angles compared to that of SM. Tensile strengths decreased as the content of SM increased. However, FA exhibited strength of 2.2 Mpa/㎠ which is similar to 2.3 Mpa/㎠ of B. FA, which implies comparatively low adherence, hence, showed better protein resistance properties than SM-based hydrogel. The photo-polymerization was also applied instead of thermal polymerization to enhance the energy efficiency. As a result, the reaction yield reached over 95% within 1 minute.