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CPP: Fachverband Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik

CPP 3: Focus: Structure and Dynamics of Responsive Hydrogels I

CPP 3.2: Talk

Monday, March 22, 2010, 10:45–11:00, H37

Structure of thermoresponsive polymer hydrogels — •Christine M. Papadakis¹, Joseph Adelsberger¹, Amit Kulkarni¹, Abhinav Jain¹, Andreas Meier-Koll¹, Weinan Wang¹, Achille M. Bivigou-Koumba², André Laschewsky², and Peter Müller-Buschbaum¹ — ¹TU München, Physikdepartment E13, Garching — ²Universität Potsdam, Institut für Chemie

Thermoresponsive polymer gels display strong changes in volume when heated above the lower critical solution temperature (LCST). They are thus attractive candidates for e.g. controlled ultrafiltration.

We investigate thermoresponsive polymer hydrogels based on poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide) (PNIPAM) with the focus on the influence of polymer architecture on the morphology. PNIPAM homopolymers as well as diblock and triblock copolymers with a longer PNIPAM block and hydrophobic polystyrene (PS) end blocks are investigated [1]. Structural studies were carried out using mainly small-angle neutron and X-ray scattering (SANS). The homopolymers form a transient gel, whereas the diblock copolymers form a jammed solution of core-shell micelles and the triblock copolymers physically cross-linked micellar networks. The latter constitute an attractive alternative to chemically crosslinked networks.

1. K. Troll, C. M. Papadakis, et al., Colloid Polym. Sci. 2008, 286, 1079. A.M. Bivigou Koumba, A. Laschewsky, et al., Macromol. Chem. Phys. 2009, 210, 565. A. Jain, C. M. Papadakis et al., Macromol. Symp., accepted.