To increase the themosensitive behavior and antibacterial activity of cotton fabric, a series of poly (N-isopropylacrylamide)/chitosan (PNIPAAm/Cs) hydrogels was synthesized by interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) technology using a redox initiator. The IPN PNIPAAm/Cs hydrogel was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and th...

The thermo-responsive polymer poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) has received widespread attention for its in vitro application in the non-invasive, non-destructive release of adherent cells on two dimensional surfaces. In this study, 3D non-woven scaffolds fabricated from poly(propylene) (PP), poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET), and nylon that had been grafted with PNIPAAm were tested for their abili...

A series of semi-interpenetrating, polymer network (semi-IPN), hydrogel beads, composed of calcium alginate (Ca-alginate) and poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAM), were prepared for a pH/temperature-sensitive drug delivery study. The equilibrium swelling showed the independent pH- and thermo- responsive nature of the developed materials. At pH=2.1, the release amount of indomethacin incorporat...

We present the preparation and the characterization of the solution behavior and functional properties of superparamagnetic and/or fluorescent, thermo-responsive inorganic/organic hybrid particles with an intermediate protective silica shell and a smart polymer corona. These well-defined multifunctional nanogels were prepared via two consecutive encapsulation processes of superparamagnetic Fe(2...

An easy method is proposed to prepare poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) and poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNiPAAm) nanogels with sizes less than 100 nm. The underlying principle dilute polymer solutions in acetone/water mixtures where acetone acts break tridimensional structure of water hence disrupting the H-bonds bridging coils causing separation shrinkage their sizes. Irradiation these by gamma-r...

An alarm system as extrinsic sensor on optical fibers for detecting and controlling inflammable liquids based on thermosensitive proprieties of the PNIPAAm hydrogel is presented. The changes on the optical proprieties of the PNIPAAm with the temperature (being its LCST 32oC), induce abrupt changes on the light intensity and they act as an alarm signal, which is transmitted by optical fibers and...

Designer particles synthesized by surfactant-free emulsion polymerization were adsorbed successfully on the sapphire discs. The particles carried a thin layer of an atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) initiator on the surface and were subsequently successfully used to graft PNIPAAM brushes from the surface. The surface coverage of the discs by these particles could be improved by heat t...

Hydrogels are polymer networks swollen in water that characterized by soft mechanics and high permeability. This makes them good candidates for separation membrane technologies. The diffusion is controlled the mesh size of network, this can be made tunable through introduction thermoresponsive polymers. However, still a developing field. To contribute to development, dual dynamic network formed...

Mesoporous silica SBA-15 was modified in a three-step process to obtain a material with poly-N-isopropylacrylamide (PNIPAAM) grafted onto the inner pore surface. Water sorption calorimetry was implemented to characterize the materials obtained after each step regarding the porosity and surface properties. The modification process was carried out by (i) increasing the number of surface silanol g...

We describe a facile method for the formation of dynamic nanostructured surfaces based on the modification of porous anodic aluminum oxide with poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide) (PNIPAAm) via surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization. The dynamic structure of these surfaces was investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM), which showed dramatic changes in the surface nanostructure abov...