Engineering thermoresponsive branched copolymer surfactants: Influence of the copolymer composition on thermoresponse
Thermoresponsive hydrogels are promising materials that offer bespoke rheological behaviour triggered by mild temperature changes and have applications in advanced therapeutics, tissue engineering and emerging fields such as soft robotics. We have designed advanced thermothickening materials based on "engineered emulsions" stabilised by branched copolymer surfactants (BCS). These BCS are branched copolymers bearing thermoresponsive polymer chains terminated with short hydrophobic chain ends which are grafted with hydrophilic block. The properties of BCS and hence their ability to generate useful thermothickening materials depends on a hierarchical understanding of BCS assembly into nanoparticle structures and interactions between these particles. We propose to use SANS to achieve an understanding of the structure of these novel constructs at the nano-scale, both in sol and gel states. These experiments will give us a critical insight into BCS architecture both above and below the transition temperature, allowing us to correlate bulk properties with morphology to support rational development of novel high-performance thermothickening emulsions.
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Michael T. Cook; da Silva, MA; Dreiss and PORCAR Lionel. (2021). Engineering thermoresponsive branched copolymer surfactants: Influence of the copolymer composition on thermoresponse. Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) doi:10.5291/ILL-DATA.9-11-2028
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