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Exploring the colloid-to-polymer transition for ultra-low crosslinked microgels from three to two dimensions.


ABSTRACT: Microgels are solvent-swollen nano- and microparticles that show prevalent colloidal-like behavior despite their polymeric nature. Here we study ultra-low crosslinked poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) microgels (ULC), which can behave like colloids or flexible polymers depending on dimensionality, compression or other external stimuli. Small-angle neutron scattering shows that the structure of the ULC microgels in bulk aqueous solution is characterized by a density profile that decays smoothly from the center to a fuzzy surface. Their phase behavior and rheological properties are those of soft colloids. However, when these microgels are confined at an oil-water interface, their behavior resembles that of flexible macromolecules. Once monolayers of ultra-low crosslinked microgels are compressed, deposited on solid substrate and studied with atomic-force microscopy, a concentration-dependent topography is observed. Depending on the compression, these microgels can behave as flexible polymers, covering the substrate with a uniform film, or as colloidal microgels leading to a monolayer of particles.

SUBMITTER: Scotti A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6441029 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Exploring the colloid-to-polymer transition for ultra-low crosslinked microgels from three to two dimensions.

Scotti A A   Bochenek S S   Brugnoni M M   Fernandez-Rodriguez M A MA   Schulte M F MF   Houston J E JE   Gelissen A P H APH   Potemkin I I II   Isa L L   Richtering W W  

Nature communications 20190329 1


Microgels are solvent-swollen nano- and microparticles that show prevalent colloidal-like behavior despite their polymeric nature. Here we study ultra-low crosslinked poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) microgels (ULC), which can behave like colloids or flexible polymers depending on dimensionality, compression or other external stimuli. Small-angle neutron scattering shows that the structure of the ULC microgels in bulk aqueous solution is characterized by a density profile that decays smoothly from th  ...[more]

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