Smart Gels
“Polymer gels that can expand or contract by up to 1000 times in volume.”
“Smart gels or polymer gels are a class of materials that expand or contract when triggered by tiny changes in temperature, light, a solvent or other stimulus."
“Polymer gels have the ability to make large but reversible changes in volume allowing for the invention of smart gels that could deliver various agents and materials at specific events for countless purposes. For example, uses for smart gels could include cleaning up oil spills, creating cosmetics adaptable to skin pH, or even serving as miniature artificial valves and muscles.”
Recent Journal Articles
11/19/2010
Microfluidic fabrication of smart microgels from macromolecular precursors
(5883-5889) Polymer 51 #25 (2010)
Seiffert and Weitz produced sensitive polymer microgels from prefabricated precursor polymers. They usedmicrofluidic devices to emulsify semidilute solutions of crosslinkable poly(N-isopropylacrylamide), and solidify the drops via polymer-analogous gelation. In addition, the microfluidic templating allowed them to form complex particle morphologies such as hollow gel shells, anisotropic microgels, or multilayered microgel capsules. (RDC 11/18/2010)