Issue 5, 2011

Hydrogel with cubic-packed giant concentric domains of semi-rigid polyion complex

Abstract

We report a novel giant oriented structure observed in plate hydrogels synthesized by photo-polymerization of cationic monomers with a cross-linker in the presence of a semi-rigid polyanion as the dopant. The giant structure, formed viaself-assembly of the semi-rigid polyion complex, consists of millimetre-scale cubic packed concentric cylindrical domains that are sandwiched by two homeotropically aligned outer layers. A universal relationship between the diameter of the cylinders D and the thickness of the swollen gel T is observed, as D = 0.5T, regardless the change in the concentrations of the polyanion and precursor cationic monomer. This result permits us to induce the giant concentric structure into hydrogels with tunable cylindrical sizes.

Graphical abstract: Hydrogel with cubic-packed giant concentric domains of semi-rigid polyion complex

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
11 Oct 2010
Accepted
11 Nov 2010
First published
12 Jan 2011

Soft Matter, 2011,7, 1884-1889

Hydrogel with cubic-packed giant concentric domains of semi-rigid polyion complex

Z. L. Wu, Md. Arifuzzaman, T. Kurokawa, H. Furukawa and J. P. Gong, Soft Matter, 2011, 7, 1884 DOI: 10.1039/C0SM01139H

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements