The utility and efficacy of thermoresponsive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm) hydrogels as smart materials is limited by their physical properties. In this study, we sought to design PNIPAAm nanocomposite hydrogels which displayed enhanced mechanical properties as well as deswelling-reswelling kinetics but without reducing equilibrium swelling or altering the convenient volume phase transition temperature (VPTT) of PNIPAAm. PNIPAAm hydrogels were formed as double networks (DN) comprised of a tightly crosslinked 1st network and a loosely crosslinked 2nd network. In addition, polysiloxane nanoparticles of two different average diameters (∼50 nm and ∼200 nm) were incorporated during formation of the 1st or 2nd network. The influence of the hydrogel composition on VPTT, morphology, equilibrium swelling, deswelling-reswelling kinetics and mechanical properties was evaluated. We observed that DN hydrogels formed with ∼200 nm polysiloxane nanoparticles introduced during formation of the 1st network achieved the best combination of the desired properties.
CITATION STYLE
Fei, R., George, J. T., Park, J., & Grunlan, M. A. (2012). Thermoresponsive nanocomposite double network hydrogels. Soft Matter, 8(2), 481–487. https://doi.org/10.1039/c1sm06105d
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