Thermo-responsive gels that absorb moisture and ooze water

The water content of thermo-responsive hydrogels can be drastically altered by small changes in temperature because their polymer chains change from hydrophilic to hydrophobic above their low critical solution temperature (LCST). In general, such smart hydrogels have been utilized in aqueous solutio...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature communications 2018-06, Vol.9 (1), p.2315-7, Article 2315
Main Authors: Matsumoto, Kazuya, Sakikawa, Nobuki, Miyata, Takashi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
639/301/923/1027
639/301/923/1028
Alginic acid
Gels
Humanities and Social Sciences
Hydrogels
Hydrophobicity
Interpenetrating networks
Isopropylacrylamide
Moisture content
multidisciplinary
Phase transitions
Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)
Polymers
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Sodium
Sodium alginate
Temperature
Temperature effects
Water
Water content
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Summary:The water content of thermo-responsive hydrogels can be drastically altered by small changes in temperature because their polymer chains change from hydrophilic to hydrophobic above their low critical solution temperature (LCST). In general, such smart hydrogels have been utilized in aqueous solutions or in their wet state, and no attempt has been made to determine the phase-transition behavior of the gels in their dried states. Here we demonstrate an application of the thermo-responsive behavior of an interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) gel comprising thermo-responsive poly( N -isopropylacrylamide) and hydrophilic sodium alginate networks in their dried states. The dried IPN gel absorbs considerable moisture from air at temperatures below its LCST and oozes the absorbed moisture as liquid water above its LCST. These phenomena provide energy exchange systems in which moisture from air can be condensed to liquid water using the controllable hydrophilic/hydrophobic properties of thermo-responsive gels with a small temperature change. Most smart hydrogels are used in their wet state and determination of their phase transition behaviour in the dried state is lacking. Here the authors investigate the thermo-responsive behaviour of an interpenetrating polymer network gel comprising of poly( N -isopropylacrylamide) and sodium alginate networks in their dried states.
ISSN:2041-1723
2041-1723
DOI:10.1038/s41467-018-04810-8