On the structure of hydrogels - what length scale is important ?
Understanding the gelation of liquids by low molecular weight solutes at low concentrations gives an insight into many molecular recognition phenomena, and also offers a simple route to modifying the physical properties of the liquid. More importantly, these gels are potential new soft materials, but their mechanical properties are critical to the final application. Depending on the application, different properties may be required. Recent work from our respective groups has focused on understanding the correlation between the molecular structure of the gelator, the kinetics of the gelation mechanism and the ultimate network characteristics. This opens up the potential to prepare gels with very different properties at the same final conditions, allowing the effect of microstructure to be probed. This proposal seeks to identify those factors that define the local and global structure of the gels, and to optimise the structures obtained from simple pH and counterion triggers.
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GRIFFITHS Peter Charles; ADAMS Dave; CATTOZ Beatrice; GRILLO Isabelle; SCHWEINS Ralf and ZAMITH CARDOSO Andre. (2013). On the structure of hydrogels - what length scale is important ?. Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) doi:10.5291/ILL-DATA.9-10-1304