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High swelling gels for sensing applications
Author(s) -
Ranucci Elisabetta,
Ferruti Paolo,
Ferrari Vittorio,
Marioli Daniele,
Taroni Andrea
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
macromolecular symposia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.257
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1521-3900
pISSN - 1022-1360
DOI - 10.1002/masy.19961090109
Subject(s) - swelling , materials science , gravimetric analysis , chemical engineering , polymer , sorption , coating , aqueous solution , self healing hydrogels , amorphous solid , polymer chemistry , composite material , organic chemistry , adsorption , chemistry , engineering
Crosslinked hydrophilic polymers of different chemical structures can be used as sensor coatings for the detection of gaseous analytes. If their crosslink density is low, these materials behave in aqueous media as soft hydrogels with high swelling capacity. From a physico‐mechanical standpoint, they are amorphous rubber‐like materials, with high flexibility of their macromolecular chains. This property is particularly significant in view of applications in the sensors field, because it favours diffusion of the analyte molecules through the coating layer. This paper deals with the application of poly(ethylene glycols) (PEG)‐ and poly(N‐vinylpyrrolidinone) (PVP)‐based crosslinked resins as relative humidity (RH) sorbing materials, and of a poly(amidoamine)(PAA)‐based resin as SO 2 ‐sorbing material. The electronic devices used for evaluating the sorption capability of these polymeric coatings were gravimetric resonant sensors. Resins of various crosslink density, and therefore of various swelling ratios in water, were purposely prepared and characterized. Thin coating, layers, prepared by casting from dilute aqueous suspensions of the resins, previously micronized in water, were used for sorption experiments. All experiments were performed in controlled RH and temperature environments.