Shrinking rates of polymer gels composed of star-shaped polymers of -isopropylacrylamide and dimethylacrylamide copolymers: the effect of dimethylacrylamide on the crosslinking network.

Thermoresponsive polymer gels can be applied as culture beds for cell sheets, drug release agents for drug delivery, and sensing materials. In general, the shrinkage behavior of thermoresponsive polymer gels is complex, and they may require much longer times than swelling to reach thermodynamically stable shrinkage states. This slow volume change during shrinkage is often a drawback in using reversible changes in polymer gel volumes with changing temperature for applications such as those described above, and attempts have been made to improve the shrinkage rates of polymer gels.