Hydrogel with Cubic-Packed Giant Concentric Domains of Semi-Rigid Polyion Complex

• Wu, Zi Liang

• Arifuzzaman, Md.

• Kurokawa, Takayuki

• Furukawa, Hidemitsu

• Gong, Jian Ping

Abstract

We report a novel giant oriented structure observed in plate hydrogels synthesized by photopolymerization of cationic monomers with a cross-linker in the presence of a semi-rigid polyanion as the dopant. The giant structure, formed via self-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.

Journal

• Soft Matter

  Soft Matter 7 (5), 1884-1889, 2011

  Royal Society of Chemistry

Details

• CRID: 1050845763937311616
• NII Article ID: 120005228697
• NII Book ID: AA12068335
• HANDLE: 2115/52752
• ISSN: 1744683X
• Text Lang: en
• Article Type: journal article
• Data Source:
  • IRDB
  • CiNii Articles