Issue 42, 2020

The hierarchical bulk molecular structure of poly(acrylamide) hydrogels: beyond the fishing net

Abstract

The polymeric structure of hydrogels is commonly presented in the literature as resembling a fishing net. However, this simple view cannot fully capture all the unique properties of these materials. Crucial for a detailed description of the bulk structure in free-radical polymerized vinylic hydrogels is a thorough understanding of the cross-linker distribution. This work focuses on the precise role of the tetra-functional cross-linker in the hydrogel system: acrylamide-N,N′-methylenebis(acrylamide). Clusters of crosslinker smaller than 4 nm and their agglomerates, as well as polymer domains with sizes from the 100 nm to the μm-range, have been identified by means of both X-ray and visible-light scattering. Placed in the context of the extensive literature on this system, these observations demonstrate the heterogeneous organisation of the polymer within the hydrogel network structure, and can be accounted for by the different polymerization behavior of the monomer and crosslinker. Together with polymer-network chain-length approximations based on swelling experiments and structural observations with scanning electron microscopy, these results indicate a hierarchical structure of the polymer network surrounding pockets of water.

Graphical abstract: The hierarchical bulk molecular structure of poly(acrylamide) hydrogels: beyond the fishing net

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
25 Aug 2020
Accepted
23 Sep 2020
First published
23 Sep 2020
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Soft Matter, 2020,16, 9789-9798

The hierarchical bulk molecular structure of poly(acrylamide) hydrogels: beyond the fishing net

Y. Gombert, F. Roncoroni, A. Sánchez-Ferrer and N. D. Spencer, Soft Matter, 2020, 16, 9789 DOI: 10.1039/D0SM01536A

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