Issue 1, 2024

Correlating structural changes in thermoresponsive hydrogels to the optical response of embedded plasmonic nanoparticles

Abstract

Stimuli-responsive microgels, composed of small beads with soft, deformable polymer networks swollen through a combination of synthetic control over the polymer and its interaction with water, form a versatile platform for development of multifunctional and biocompatible sensors. The interfacial structural variation of such materials at a nanometer length scale is essential to their function, but not yet fully comprehended. Here, we take advantage of the plasmonic response of a gold nanorod embedded in a thermoresponsive microgel (AuNR@PNIPMAm) to monitor structural changes in the hydrogel directly near the nanorod surface. By direct comparison of the plasmon response against measurements of the hydrogel structure from dynamic light scattering and nuclear magnetic resonance, we find that the microgel shell of batch-polymerized AuNR@PNIPMAm exhibits a heterogeneous volume phase transition reflected by different onset temperatures for changes in the hydrodyanmic radius (RH) and plasmon resonance, respectively. The new approach of contrasting plasmonic response (a measure of local surface hydrogel structure) with RH and relaxation times paves a new path to gain valuable insight for the design of plasmonic sensors based on stimuli-responsive hydrogels.

Graphical abstract: Correlating structural changes in thermoresponsive hydrogels to the optical response of embedded plasmonic nanoparticles

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
09 9 2023
Accepted
15 11 2023
First published
17 11 2023
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Nanoscale Adv., 2024,6, 146-154

Correlating structural changes in thermoresponsive hydrogels to the optical response of embedded plasmonic nanoparticles

K. Zygadlo, C. Liu, E. R. Bernardo, H. Ai, M. Nieh and L. A. Hanson, Nanoscale Adv., 2024, 6, 146 DOI: 10.1039/D3NA00758H

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