Berlin 2015 – scientific programme

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CPP: Fachverband Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik

CPP 35: P7: Hydrogels and Elastomers

CPP 35.3: Poster

Tuesday, March 17, 2015, 14:00–16:00, Poster C

Single and double networks from amphiphilic star block copolymers — •Xiaohan Zhang¹, Konstantinos Kyriakos¹, Elina N. Kitiri², Maria Rikkou-Kalourkoti², Costas Patrickios², and Christine M. Papadakis¹ — ¹TU München, Physik-Department, Soft Matter Physics Group, Garching — ²University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus

Amphiphilic conetworks comprise hydrophilic and hydrophobic chains which microphase-separate when swollen with water. This way, a large amount of internal interfaces is created which is of interest for, among others, tissue engineering. To improve the mechanical strength, especially regarding compression, a second hydrophilic polymer network is introduced into these amphiphilic networks.

We investigate amphiphilic conetworks from various acrylic blocks which differ in composition, water solubility and mechanical properties. We have studied the structures of the single and the conetworks using small-angle X-ray scattering which reveals information about the microphase-separated morphology. We find that their degree of swelling in water as well as the underlying mesoscopic structures depend strongly on these characteristics.