Temperature-Responsive Polymers
A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 July 2018) | Viewed by 35251
Special Issue Editor
2. Freie Universität Berlin, Department of Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacy, Institute of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Takustrasse 3, 14195 Berlin, Germany
Interests: Upper Critical Solution Temperature (UCST)-type polymers
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The physical properties of smart polymeric materials change according to environmental factors, such as temperature, pH, light, electric or magnetic fields. Among this group of smart polymeric materials, thermoresponsive polymers’ ability to change their physical properties, in response to changes to the surrounding temperature, render them one of the most interesting materials, as temperature is an easily accessible and controllable parameter, and is also of great relevance in biomedical applications. This is especially the case in areas such as temperature-triggered drug delivery, diagnostics, tissue engineering, bio-separation, sensory applications, and thermally switchable optical devices.
Thermoresponsive polymers can exhibit a lower critical solution temperature (LCST) and/or an upper critical solution temperature (UCST): They phase separate from solution upon heating (LCST) or cooling (UCST), respectively. Depending on the targeted application, one or the other type of phase transition behavior may be preferred. The types of solvents in which this phase transition can take place range from pure water to water/alcohol mixtures or even organic solvents. In mixtures of solvents, co-solvency or co-non solvency effects can come into play. Moreover, thermoresponsive polymers are not limited to their simplest macromolecular architectures as linear homopolymers in solution, and can also be used as three-dimensional networks in the form of gels at various scales (nano, micro, macro), as copolymers to build self-assembled architectures or grafted on macroscopic surfaces, and also on nanomaterials.
Prof. Dr. Annabelle Bertin
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- Thermoresponsive polymers, gels, nanomaterials and surfaces
- LCST polymers
- UCST polymers
- Co-solvency, co-nonsolvency
- Temperature-triggered biomedical and materials science applications
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