Applications polyfvinyl alcohol

Hassan, C. M. and Peppas, N. A. Structure and Applications of Polyfvinyl alcohol) Hydrogels Produced by Conventional Crosslinking or by Freezing/Thawing Methods. Vol. 153, pp. 37-65. 

Polyfvinyl alcohol) will function as a non-ionic surface active agent and is used in suspension polymerisation as a protective colloid. In many applications it serves as a binder and thickener is addition to an emulsifying agent. The polymer is also employed in adhesives, binders, paper sizing, paper coatings, textile sizing, ceramics, cosmetics and as a steel quenchant. 

Nanofibers are nanostructures with diameters in the nanometer range. They have been resourcefully used in sensing applications. Piperno and co-authors [72] immobilized polymer nanofibers in Imp-NPs for an amino acid derivative and used them in a fluorescence-based sensor for dansyl-L-phenylalanine detection. Polyfvinyl alcohol) was used as the supporting material with Imp-NPs, because it was water soluble and could be spun into very thin fibers. An Imp-nanofiber membrane was synthesized using N-a-benzyloxycarbonyl-D-glutamic acid (Z-D-Glu) or N-a-benzyloxycarbonyl-L-glutamic acid (Z-L-Glu) as imprint molecules for sensing of amino acid derivatives. Cellulose acetate was also used to synthesize Imp-nanofiber membranes by the electrospray method for the same analytes. 

It will be appreciated that poly(vinyl alcohol) has an unusual combination of properties. In particular, it has much greater tensile strength than is normally associated with water-soluble materials at the same time it has outstanding chemical resistance. This combination results in a wide variety of applications. Thus polyfvinyl alcohol) film is used for water-soluble packages for materials such as bath salts, bleaches, disinfectants and insecticides film is also employed as a release agent in the production of reinforced plastics. Polyfvinyl alcohol) may be spun into fibres (which are insolubilized by treatment with formaldehyde), which have been developed particularly in Japan. Aqueous poly(vinyl alcohol) solutions are used in the formulation of adhesives, paper treatments and textile sizes. 

---