Poly(vinyl alcohol)

Polyvinyl alcohol(PVA) is a linear hydrophilic synthetic polymer with a backbone composed of only carbon atoms. Due to its inertness and stability, it is considered safe and biocompatible. It is also biodegradable under both anaerobic and aerobic conditions. Owing to its unique properties such as adhesiveness, safety, strength, film-forming, swelling, and non-carcinogenicity, it is widely used in paper, adhesives,food, biomedical and pharmaceutical industries. The partially hydrolyzed PVA(87–89%) is more soluble in water and it has more flexibility and adhesion tohydrophobic surfaces.

PVA has remarkable properties for a polymer to be used in drug delivery systems such as high surface stabilization, and low protein adsorption. The use of PVA in solid dispersion prevents crystal formation and improves the solubility of drugs. It can also be used as a granulating liquid to prevent slow crystal growth and nucleation. In conjunction with its copolymers, it can be useful for both hydrophilic and hydrophobic drugs. PVA hydrogels and microparticles can be used in drug delivery systems for cancer drugs.

PVA can be used as a surface stabilizer in preparing drug delivery carriers for the slow release of tetracycline.

Highly concentrated alginate/polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) bioinks can be used to prepare 3D bioprinting porous scaffolds. Partial diffusion of PVA sols from printed scaffolds creates a large number of micropores.

PVA can also be used as a water-soluble polymer template to synthesize nanosized polypyrrole via in situ polymerization. PVA generates stable dispersions of polypyrrole nanospheres in water and the size of nanospheres depends on the molecular weight and concentration of PVA.