A Novel Nanocomposite Hydrogel with Precisely Tunable UCST and LCST

作者：Xia, Mengge; Cheng, Yanhua; Meng, Zhouqi; Jiang, Xiaoze; Chen, Zhigang; Theato, Patrick; Zhu, Meifang^*

来源：Macromolecular Rapid Communications, 2015, 36(5): 477-482.

DOI：10.1002/marc.201400665

• 2-(2-methoxyethoxy) ethyl methacrylate
• lower critical solution temperature (LCST)
• nanocomposite hydrogels
• oligo(ethylene glycol) methacrylate
• upper critical solution temperature (UCST)

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 degrees 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.

• 出版日期2015-3
• 单位东华大学