PNIPA microgel and Alcian blue dye aqueous solution interaction (Microscopic investigation)

Abstract

The interaction of Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPA) gel and Alcian blue dye (AB) aqueous solution was studied in this work by means of optical and electron microscopy. During the PNIPA synthesis sodium metacrylate (MaNa) monomers were added to the chains to increase the gel charge activity. Optical microscopy was used to observe the results of dye and gel interaction. Scanning electron microscopy was performed in ESEM mode to observe the detailed structure of samples’ initial state and state after PNIPA and dye interaction. It was found that Alcian blue dye forms threads that combine microgel particles which leads to complex conglomerates formation. In the macrogel case, alcian blue dye follows the polymer threads that may be used to visualize the gel structure.