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A Novel Route to the Preparation of Poly( N ‐isopropylacrylamide) Microgels by Using Inorganic Clay as a Cross‐Linker
Author(s) -
Zhang Qingsong,
Zha Liusheng,
Ma Jinghong,
Liang Borun
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
macromolecular rapid communications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.348
H-Index - 154
eISSN - 1521-3927
pISSN - 1022-1336
DOI - 10.1002/marc.200600629
Subject(s) - hectorite , fourier transform infrared spectroscopy , poly(n isopropylacrylamide) , chemical engineering , materials science , aqueous solution , polymer chemistry , chemistry , polymer , composite material , organic chemistry , copolymer , montmorillonite , engineering
Abstract Adopting inorganic clay (hectorite) and MBA as physical and chemical cross‐linking agents, respectively, PNIPAM microgels were synthesized by SFEP. The chemical structure and morphology of the microgels were confirmed by FTIR, WXRD, and SEM. The temperature‐sensitivity of the microgels was investigated by DLS and UV spectrophotometers. The results inferred that clay platelets dispersed in an aqueous medium were fully exfoliated and could act as a kind of multifunctional cross‐linking agent and significantly reduced the hydrodynamic diameters of the microgels. In fact, the hydrodynamic diameters of the PNIPAM microgels with clay as cross‐linker ranged from 154 to 322 nm which was much smaller than that using MBA as chemical cross‐linker, the later was in the range of 284–808 nm on heating from 5 to 50 °C.