Using Plasma Etching to Access the Polymer Density Distribution and Diffusivity of Gel Particles.

In this paper we examine the polymer density distribution of gel particles and its effect on solvent diffusivity through the polymer network. In order to access the inner particle regions, external polymer layers were removed by plasma etching, thus reducing them from the outside. Higher polymer densities after erosion showed internal heterogeneity, with the density increasing towards the center of the particles.

Gels and microgels for nanotechnological applications.

In recent years, "smart" materials have been the focus of considerable interest, from both fundamental and applied perspectives. Polymer gels are within this category; they respond to specific environmental stimuli by changing their size. Thus, the internal structure, the refractive index, and the mechanical properties of the polymer network change.

Ion-specific and reversible wetting of imidazolium-based minigels.

Cross-linked imidazolium-based [poly(ViEtIm +Br -)] microparticles were synthesized, and their wetting properties were studied by optical microscopy, after addition of aqueous solutions of sodium halides. Particle wetting showed ion specificity due to counterion binding, described by Desnoyer's model. The interaction between anions and the microparticles allowed exchanging halogenides between them in a reversible way.

Swelling kinetics of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) minigels.

We synthesize poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) gels with different sizes in the micrometer scale by a slight variation of a recent emulsion polymerization method (ref 1). The procedure is different than that typically used for obtaining macroscopic PNIPAM hydrogels. The resultant minigel suspension is polydisperse thus allowing the swelling kinetics for different gel sizes to be studied; we do so at temperatures below the volume-transition temperature by wetting with water previously dried particles.

Diffusion coefficients in swelling polypyrrole: ESCR and Cottrell models.

Reliable diffusion coefficients, D, for the diffusion of perchlorate anions into polypyrrole films during polymeric oxidation were obtained from chronoamperometric results. Two different models were used to calculate D: the Cottrell equation and the electrochemically stimulated conformational relaxation (ESCR) model. As expected, the initial Cottrell hypothesis was far from swelling/shrinking polymeric electrodes and the obtained D range was from 10(-10) to 10(-6) cm(2) s(-1).