COLL 294 |
| Nurettin Sahiner, Mohit Singh, and Vijay T. John. Chemical & Biomolecular Eng, Tulane University, 300 Lindy Boggs Bldg, New Orleans, LA 70118 |
| Hydrogels of several monomers, cationic and anionic, have been prepared in variety of forms; nanogel, nanocompoites and in the form of microgels via redox polymerization and/or UV irradiation techniques in the microenvironment of water-in-oil microemulsions. Due to their high interfacial area per unit mass of gel, and greater exchange rates, micro- and nano- size hydrogels are more effective and faster in responding to the environmental changes than the macroscopic or bulk counterparts, and can be used more proficiently in many fields such as separation, purification, controlled release and in sensing devices. Composite materials have also been investigated by utilizing silica precursors for combinatory effect of inorganic/organic materials and their usage for fast responses to different stimuli. It is known that hybrid nanogels, can be synthesized by incorporating the polymer into a tailored nano-structure, ceramic hosts or vice versa, give more uniform release rate of drugs as well as sustained release rate. In addition, we also prepared hydrogel-hydrogel composites by dispersing nano- and or micro- hydrogel into another hydrogel precursor solution before polymerization. These types of material can be useful for various applications such as drug delivery, and sensors. In fact, incorporation of functional nano- or micro- seized hydrogels and/or composite into a new bulk film or matrix of a second hydrogel, which can be anionic, cationic or neutral in character, can confer additional functionalities to the structure. The improvement can show itself by pH, temperature, and hydrophilic/hydrophilic responsiveness etc. depending on the choice of materials used during the synthesis of nano/micro material. For hydrogel characterization, swelling and pH responses behaviors were investigated, and AFM, TEM and Fluorescence Microscopies were employed to elucidate the nanogel structure. |
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Nanoscience and Nanotechnology
6:00 PM-8:00 PM, Monday, March 29, 2004 Disneyland -- North Exhibit Hall, Poster
Division of Colloid and Surface Chemistry |