Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Polymer Chemistry

University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Lower critical solution temperature

Publication Year

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Hybrid Micellar Network Hydrogels Of Thermosensitive Hydrophilic Triblock Copolymers And Thermosensitive Hairy Nanoparticles, Bin Hu Aug 2016

Hybrid Micellar Network Hydrogels Of Thermosensitive Hydrophilic Triblock Copolymers And Thermosensitive Hairy Nanoparticles, Bin Hu

Doctoral Dissertations

Hybrid micellar network hydrogels, composed of thermosensitive hydrophilic triblock copolymers and thermosensitive polymer brush-grafted nanoparticles (hairy NPs), exhibit intriguing rheological properties. This dissertation work studies thermosensitive hybrid hydrogels with NPs positioned either inside or outside the core of block copolymer micelles.

Chapter 1 is an introduction. Chapter 2 examines the effect of NP’s location on properties of hybrid hydrogels of a thermosensitive ABA triblock copolymer and hairy NPs. Two batches of thermoresponsive polymer brush-grafted silica NPs and an ABA triblock copolymer with thermosensitive outer blocks were prepared. When the lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of hairy NPs was similar to …


Tuning Sol-Gel Phase Diagrams Of Doubly Thermosensitive Hydrophilic Diblock Copolymers In Water, Naixiong Jin May 2013

Tuning Sol-Gel Phase Diagrams Of Doubly Thermosensitive Hydrophilic Diblock Copolymers In Water, Naixiong Jin

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation presents the synthesis of stimuli-responsive hydrophilic diblock copolymers and the study of their behavior in water under various conditions. The polymers were made by “living”/controlled radical polymerization. Chapter 1 presents a background of this dissertation. Chapters 2-4 describe a family of doubly thermosensitive diblock copolymers with a small amount of carboxylic acid groups incorporated into either one or both blocks. The lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of the weak acid-containing block increases with increasing pH due to the ionization of carboxylic acid. Chapter 5 presents the preparation of pH-sensitive diblock copolymer micelle-embedded agarose hydrogels.

Chapter 2 describes the …