TY - JOUR
T1 - Development of visible-light responsive and mechanically enhanced "smart" UCST interpenetrating network hydrogels
AU - Xu, Yifei
AU - Ghag, Onkar
AU - Reimann, Morgan
AU - Sitterle, Philip
AU - Chatterjee, Prithwish
AU - Nofen, Elizabeth
AU - Yu, Hongyu
AU - Jiang, Hanqing
AU - Dai, Lenore
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to acknowledge the financial support from the National Science Foundation CMMI 1462481 and the Fulton Undergraduate Research Initiative Program at Arizona State University. We would also like to acknowledge and thank Dr Matthew Green, Dr François Perreault, and Dr Konrad Rykaczewski at Arizona State University for the instrumental usage.
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - An interpenetrating polymer network (IPN), chlorophyllin-incorporated environmentally responsive hydrogel was synthesized and exhibited the following features: enhanced mechanical properties, upper critical solution temperature (UCST) swelling behavior, and promising visible-light responsiveness. Poor mechanical properties are known challenges for hydrogel-based materials. By forming an interpenetrating network between polyacrylamide (PAAm) and poly(acrylic acid) (PAAc) polymer networks, the mechanical properties of the synthesized IPN hydrogels were significantly improved compared to hydrogels made of a single network of each polymer. The formation of the interpenetrating network was confirmed by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), the analysis of glass transition temperature, and a unique UCST responsive swelling behavior, which is in contrast to the more prevalent lower critical solution temperature (LCST) behaviour of environmentally responsive hydrogels. The visible-light responsiveness of the synthesized hydrogel also demonstrated a positive swelling behavior, and the effect of incorporating chlorophyllin as the chromophore unit was observed to reduce the average pore size and further enhance the mechanical properties of the hydrogel. This interpenetrating network system shows potential to serve as a new route in developing "smart" hydrogels using visible-light as a simple, inexpensive, and remotely controllable stimulus.
AB - An interpenetrating polymer network (IPN), chlorophyllin-incorporated environmentally responsive hydrogel was synthesized and exhibited the following features: enhanced mechanical properties, upper critical solution temperature (UCST) swelling behavior, and promising visible-light responsiveness. Poor mechanical properties are known challenges for hydrogel-based materials. By forming an interpenetrating network between polyacrylamide (PAAm) and poly(acrylic acid) (PAAc) polymer networks, the mechanical properties of the synthesized IPN hydrogels were significantly improved compared to hydrogels made of a single network of each polymer. The formation of the interpenetrating network was confirmed by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), the analysis of glass transition temperature, and a unique UCST responsive swelling behavior, which is in contrast to the more prevalent lower critical solution temperature (LCST) behaviour of environmentally responsive hydrogels. The visible-light responsiveness of the synthesized hydrogel also demonstrated a positive swelling behavior, and the effect of incorporating chlorophyllin as the chromophore unit was observed to reduce the average pore size and further enhance the mechanical properties of the hydrogel. This interpenetrating network system shows potential to serve as a new route in developing "smart" hydrogels using visible-light as a simple, inexpensive, and remotely controllable stimulus.
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U2 - 10.1039/c7sm01851g
DO - 10.1039/c7sm01851g
M3 - Article
C2 - 29226931
AN - SCOPUS:85039157291
SN - 1744-683X
VL - 14
SP - 151
EP - 160
JO - Soft Matter
JF - Soft Matter
IS - 1
ER -