Back to Search Start Over

Stimulus-Responsive Transport Properties of Nanocolloidal Hydrogels.

Authors :
Huang Y
Morozova SM
Li T
Li S
Naguib HE
Kumacheva E
Source :
Biomacromolecules [Biomacromolecules] 2023 Mar 13; Vol. 24 (3), pp. 1173-1183. Date of Electronic Publication: 2022 Dec 29.
Publication Year :
2023

Abstract

Applications of polymer hydrogels in separation technologies, environmental remediation, and drug delivery require control of hydrogel transport properties that are largely governed by the pore dimensions. Stimulus-responsive change in pore size offers the capability to change gel's transport properties "on demand". Here, we report a nanocolloidal hydrogel that exhibits temperature-controlled increase in pore size and, as a result, enhanced transport of encapsulated species from the gel. The hydrogel was formed by the covalent cross-linking of aldehyde-modified cellulose nanocrystals and chitosan carrying end-grafted poly( N -isopropylacrylamide) (pNIPAm) molecules. Owing to the temperature-mediated coil-to-globule transition of pNIPAm grafts, they acted as a temperature-responsive "gate" in the hydrogel. At elevated temperature, the size of the pores showed up to a 4-fold increase, with no significant changes in volume, in contrast with conventional pNIPAm-derived gels exhibiting a reduction in both pore size and volume in similar conditions. Temperature-mediated transport properties of the gel were explored by studying diffusion of nanoparticles with different dimensions from the gel, leading to the established correlation between the kinetics of diffusion-governed nanoparticle release and the ratio nanoparticle dimensions-to-pore size. The proposed approach to stimulus-responsive control of hydrogel transport properties has many applications, including their use in nanomedicine and tissue engineering.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
1526-4602
Volume :
24
Issue :
3
Database :
MEDLINE
Journal :
Biomacromolecules
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
36580573
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.biomac.2c01222