The Mechanical Properties of the Freeze-Thawed Composite Hydrogel of Polyvinyl Alcohol/Citrus hystrix Leaves Extract Kusjuriansah Kusjuriansah (a), Nabila Asy Syifa (a), Halida Rahmi Luthfianti (b), William Xaveriano Waresindo (b), Dian Ahmad Hapidin (a), Tri Suciati (c), Dhewa Edikresnha (a,d), Khairurrijal Khairurrijal (a,d,e*)
a) Department of Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Jalan Ganesa 10, Bandung 40132, Indonesia
b) Doctoral Program of Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Jalan Ganesa 10, Bandung 40132, Indonesia
c) Department of Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmacy, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Jalan Ganesa 10, Bandung 40132, Indonesia
d) University Center of Excellence - Nutraceutical, Bioscience and Biotechnology Research Center, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Jalan Ganesa 10, Bandung 40132, Indonesia
e) Department of Physics, Faculty of Sciences, Institut Teknologi Sumatera, Jl. Terusan Ryacudu, Lampung 35365, Indonesia
*krijal[at]itb.ac.id
Abstract
Citrus hystrix leaves are reported to be used as antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, hepatoprotective effects, and anticancer. On the other hand, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) is a synthetic polymer that can be used as a raw material for synthesizing hydrogels for biomedical applications. This paper reports the loading of Citrus hystrix leaves extract in PVA hydrogel synthesized by using the freeze-thaw method for various combinations of composite hydrogel, namely 10:0, 10:1, 10:2, 10:3, 10:4, and 10:5 sample. The density of the precursor solutions increased in value as the fraction of the extract solution increased. On the other hand, an increase in the fraction of the extract solution resulted in a decrease in the viscosity and pH of the precursor solutions. The composite hydrogel showed the swelling degree which tended to decrease with the increase in the extract fraction. An increase in the extract fraction then resulted in a decrease in the gel fraction of the composite hydrogel, as evidenced in the results of the gel fraction test. The compressive strength of the composite hydrogel decreased as the extract fraction increased. Thus, this paper shows that the composite hydrogel has the potential to be applied in the biomedical field according to the benefits of Citrus hystrix leaves.
