Issue 4, 2012

Thermo-responsive adhesion properties of composite hydrogel microcapsules

Abstract

The present work describes the synthesis and characterisation of thermo-responsive microcapsules consisting of poly-N-isopropylacrylamide (PNIPAM) hydrogel, hydrophilic citrate-stabilized super-paramagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) that perform the function of a local heat source and hydrophobic nanoparticles (either SiO2 or oleic acid-coated SPIONs) that stabilize the microcapsule surface. The microcapsules have been synthesized by the inverse Pickering emulsion polymerisation method. The effect of iron oxide concentration in the hydrogel on the shape, size, shrinkage ratio and heating rate of the microcapsules has been systematically investigated. The adhesion properties of the composite microcapsules towards a range of substrates have been characterised in a microfluidic flow cell and it was found that the temperature-induced change of the microcapsule size is an effective way of controlling adhesion. The induction heating of the embedded SPIONs makes it possible to control adhesion remotely in environments where macroscopic heating is not possible.

Graphical abstract: Thermo-responsive adhesion properties of composite hydrogel microcapsules

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
19 Sep 2011
Accepted
26 Oct 2011
First published
23 Nov 2011

Soft Matter, 2012,8, 1087-1095

Thermo-responsive adhesion properties of composite hydrogel microcapsules

V. Tokárová, A. Pittermannová, J. Čech, P. Ulbrich and F. Štěpánek, Soft Matter, 2012, 8, 1087 DOI: 10.1039/C1SM06783D

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