A combined effect of freeze--thaw cycles and polymer concentration on the structure and mechanical properties of transparent PVA gels

Transparent poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) hydrogel films, derived from aqueous solutions of varying concentration, were synthesized by the cyclic freeze–thaw method (0°–37 °C). This study demonstrates a variation in the transparency, degree of crystallinity, wettability, swelling and mechanical properties of the hydrogels as a function of the solution concentration and the number of freeze–thaw cycles for a given average molecular weight (95 000 Da). The study manifests a strong control of the number of freeze–thaw cycles on the structure–property correlations of the synthesized transparent PVA hydrogels, revealing the possibility of obtaining a window of structural and process parameters for the physically cross-linked hydrogels, making them suitable for cell–gel interactions.