Polyacrylamide-based nanocomposite hydrogel prepared by synergistic solar light-induced polymerization

A straightforward approach to prepare a nanocomposite hybrid hydrogel through simultaneous processes of nanoparticle formation, polymerization and crosslinking processes induced by sunlight is reported. This method requires just the gold precursor and acrylamide monomers to form a hydrogel network without the need of any initiator or crosslinking agent. The synthesis is based on a synergistic approach where the acrylamide monomer (AM) acts as a reducing agent and capping ligand to obtain gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), while the presence of these nanostructures induce both the polymerization and the crosslinking process. Graphical abstract