SKM 2023 – scientific programme
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CPP: Fachverband Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik
CPP 8: Responsive and Adaptive Systems
CPP 8.2: Talk
Monday, March 27, 2023, 11:00–11:15, ZEU 255
Effect of architecture in thermoresponsive hydrogels from PEG-based tri- and tetrablock terpolymers — •Feifei Zheng1, Wenqi Xu1, Eirini Melampianaki1, Anna P. Constantinou2, Theoni K. Georgiou2, and Christine M. Papadakis1 — 1TUM School of Natural Sciences, Technical Unversity of Munich, Garching, Germany — 2Department of Materials, Imperial College, London, UK
Thermogels are an exciting class of stimuli-responsive materials with many promising applications ranging from the medical field to additive manufacturing. The mechanical properties in the gel state strongly depending on the architecture of the polymer [1]. Here, we address an ABC triblock terpolymer and a BABC tetrablock terpolymer consisting of the hydrophilic oligo(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate (OEGMA, A), hydrophobic n-butyl methacrylate (BuMA, B), and thermoresponsive di(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate (DEGMA, C). The results from dynamic light scattering on dilute solutions show that the hydrodynamic radii of the micelles formed by both, ABC and of BABC, increase strongly above 25 ∘C, and the solutions feature a cloud point, i.e. aggregation of the micelles sets in. By synchrotron small-angle X-ray scattering, we found that, ABC and BABC form elongated and spherical micelles, respectively. Forward scattering attributed to large aggregates is observed at temperatures above the cloud point for both terpolymers.
[1] A. P. Constantinou et al., Macromolecules, 2021, 54, 1943.