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A Novel Nanocomposite Hydrogel with Precisely Tunable UCST and LCST
Author(s) -
Xia Mengge,
Cheng Yanhua,
Meng Zhouqi,
Jiang Xiaoze,
Chen Zhigang,
Theato Patrick,
Zhu Meifang
Publication year - 2015
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.201400665
Subject(s) - lower critical solution temperature , upper critical solution temperature , methacrylate , ethylene glycol , nanocomposite , self healing hydrogels , polymer chemistry , materials science , radical polymerization , chemical engineering , thermoresponsive polymers in chromatography , aqueous solution , polymerization , copolymer , chemistry , polymer , phase (matter) , composite material , organic chemistry , reversed phase chromatography , engineering
Novel thermosensitive nanocomposite (NC) hydrogels consisting of organic/inorganic networks are prepared via in situ free radical polymerization of 2‐(2‐methoxyethoxy) ethyl methacrylate (MEO 2 MA) and oligo(ethylene glycol) methacrylate (OEGMA) in the presence of inorganic cross‐linker clay in aqueous solution. The obtained clay/P(MEO 2 MA ‐co‐ OEGMA) hydrogels exhibit double volume phase transition temperatures, an upper critical solution temperature (UCST), and a lower critical solution temperature (LCST), which can be controlled between 5 and 85 °C by varying the fraction of OEGMA units and the weight percentage of cross‐linker clay. These new types of NC hydrogels with excellent reversible thermosensitivity are promising for temperature‐sensitive applications such as smart optical switches.