Mechanically Robust Poly(vinyl alcohol)–Egg White Composite Hydrogel with Enhancing Biocompatibility by Unidirectional Nanopore Dehydration

A simple and green method, unidirectional nanopore dehydration (UND), directly processes 10% poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) aqueous solution containing 20% egg white (EW) into a composite hydrogel membrane (PVA–EW). The tensile strength and elongation of the UND-based PVA–EW at 25 °C were 0.91 MPa and 534.17%, respectively, while the two values at 70 °C were increased by 700 and 38%, respectively. The PVA–EW (70 °C) was still dominated by random coils and α-helical structures. The hydroxyl groups of intramolecules and intermolecules of both PVA and EW could be able to combine and form either more hydrogen bonds or stronger hydrogen bonds. PVA–EW is soft and translucent, has good mechanical properties, and has a porous networked structure with pores that have a diameter of 1–10 μm. L-929 mouse fibroblasts were found to be able to adhere, grow, and proliferate well on the hydrogel composite membrane. This novel PVA–EW biomaterial has potential applications in biomaterials especially medical tissue engineering.