Responsive hydrogel-based core-shell particles and coatings

Nowadays the idea of application of hydrogel microparticles as coatings is being thought by many researchers as a promising way to modify the material s surface properties or prepare switchable and responsive surfaces. Facile, inexpensive synthetic methods, variability of structure and composition together with tunable responsive behaviour make microgels a promising material for a numerous practical applications. In this work the idea to create responsive surfaces, possessing the inverse switching effect of wetting by means of application of core-shell hydrogel-based particles was elaborated. Different approaches to obtain the novel class of composite microparticles having water-swellable hydrogel core and hydrophobic, but permeable for water shell were developed. It was demonstrated that properly designed and constracted core-shell particles could be successfully applied for preparation of smart adaptive coatings having the ability to alter the surface properties upon changing of the environment.

Autorentext

Marta Horecha, Postdoctoral Researcher at Leibniz-Institute of Polymer Research Dresden, Germany. PhD in Chemistry (2011) at Dresden University of Technology, Diploma in Chemistry at Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Ukraine (1998).