Effect of changing the concentration of zinc oxide nanoparticles on the viscosity of the polyacrylamide / polyethylene glycol solutions

Abstract

In this work, Polyacrylamide/ Polyethylene glycol solutions of different molecular weights for Polyethylene glycol and different concentrations (17, 29, 38, 45 and 57 %) of ZnO nanoparticles were prepared by dissolving 0.5g of Polyethylene glycol in 20mL Polyacrylamide, then adding different concentrations of ZnO nanoparticles. Relative viscosity values are calculated by used the efflux time of the solutions, the viscosities(relative viscosity (ƞr), specific viscosity (ƞsp), reduced viscosity (ƞred) and inherent viscosity (ƞint) were calculated for all solutions, where measurements indicated an increase in these properties with increased concentration of ZnO nanoparticles and increased molecular weight of Polyethylene glycol. Viscosity is significant parameters during electrospinning process, and if the molecular weight increases, the viscosity of the solutions increase, making subsequent synthesis and purification more difficult. the constants KH and KK were calculated from the slopes of the viscosity values related to the Huggins and Kramer equations. These results can be used in many applications and scientific studies.