Electrical Resistivities of PVA/Activated Carbon-Based Hydrogels
Yuan Alfinsyah Sihombing (a,b), Dhewa Edikresnha (a,c), Isa Anshori (d), Dian Ahmad Hapidin (a) and Khairurrijal Khairurrijal (a,c,e*)

a) Physics of Electronic Materials Research Group, Department of Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Jl Ganesa No. 10, Bandung 40132, Indonesia.
b) Department of Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Jl. Bioteknologi No.1, Medan 20155, Indonesia.
c) University Center of Excellence-Nutraceutical, Bioscience and Biotechnology Research Center, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Jalan Ganesha 10, Bandung 40132, Indonesia.
d) Lab-on-Chip Group, Biomedical Engineering Department, School of Electrical Engineering and Informatics, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Bandung 40132, Indonesia.
e) Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Institut Teknologi Sumatera, Jalan Terusan Ryacudu, Lampung 35365, Indonesia.

*Corresponding Author: krijal[at]itb.ac.id

Abstract

This study investigates the physical and electrical properties of the polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) hydrogel incorporated with edible Activated Carbon (AC). Three samples, namely PVA, PVA/AC 0.5, and PVA/AC 1.0 were prepared using the freeze-thaw method. The samples underwent six freeze-thaw cycles, each consisting of freezing at -25\(^{\circ}\)C for 20 hours and subsequent exposure to room temperature for 4 hours. The porous network of hydrogel is attributed to the hydroxyl groups of PVA, resulting from the intermolecular cross-linking of PVA chains. The edible AC was uniformly dispersed within the hydrogel network, leading to a reduction in hydrogel pores. As a result, the electrical resistivity of PVA, PVA/AC 0.5, and PVA/AC 1.0 hydrogels measured 1052.9\(\pm\)165.0 \(\Omega\).cm, 403.1\(\pm\)29.2 \(\Omega\).cm, and 59.9\(\pm\)4.7 \(\Omega\).cm, respectively. The incorporation of edible AC significantly decreased the resistivity of the hydrogel. So, this hydrogel is promising for biomedical and edible electronics applications.

Keywords: PVA, Activated Carbon, hydrogel, physical and electrical properties, electrical resistivity.

Topic: Material Physics