Design of low temperature-responsive hydrogels used as a temperature indicator

Publication date: Available online 23 April 2019Source: PolymerAuthor(s): Li Tang, Liang Gong, Guiyin Zhou, Lingyun Liu, Dong Zhang, Jianxin Tang, Jie ZhengAbstractDevelopment of highly thermo-sensitive hydrogels, particularly at a low-temperature range, has promising applications in diverse fields. Herein we designed, synthesized, and characterized tri-copolymer poly(N-tert-butyl acrylamide-co-N-isopropyl acrylamide-co-acrylamide) p(NTBAM-co-NIPAM-co-AM) hydrogels using a facile one-pot method. The copolymerization of two thermo-responsive monomers of NTBAM and NIPAM with hydrophilic AM monomers aimed to tune the temperature range of lower critical solution temperature (LCST) between 8°C and 10 °C by varying the concentrations and molar ratios of NTBAM, NIPAM, and AM. At optimal conditions, p(NTBAM-co-NIPAM-co-AM) hydrogels showed a rapid and large deswelling by reducing their original sizes by 21% in 2 min as temperature was slightly changed from 8 °C to 10 °C. Such low-temperature-triggered de-swelling behavior and tunable LCST property are likely attributed to delicate interplay between different network components and their interactions with water. Due to high temperature sensitivity (∼2 °C), large volume deswelling ratio (90%), and low temperature-responsive range (8–10 °C), we further demonstrated a prototype hydrogel ball actuator as temperature indicator to monitor minor temperature-induced size changes. The design strategy for this p(NTBAM-co-N...

Source: Polymer - April 23, 2019 Category: Chemistry Source Type: research