Elsevier

Polymer

Volume 48, Issue 7, 23 March 2007, Pages 1815-1823
Polymer

Feature Article
“Smart” nanoparticles: Preparation, characterization and applications

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymer.2007.02.004Get rights and content
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Abstract

We review recent work on the preparation, characterization and application of “smart” microgel particles. A general feature of all systems under consideration here is their ability to react to external stimuli as e.g. the pH or the temperature in the system. Special emphasis is laid on our recent research work on the thermosensitive core–shell microgel particles, which are composed of a PS core and a cross-linked poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPA) shell. Work done on these core–shell systems is compared to developments on the investigations of similar systems. A novel synthesis method, namely photo-emulsion polymerization, has been described for the preparation of monodisperse, thermosensitive core–shell particles. Cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM) has recently been employed to investigate the morphology and the volume transition of the core–shell type microgels. This method furnishes information about the thermosensitive particles that had not been available through other methods employed in previous investigations. Very recently, it has been shown that these core–shell microgels can be used as “nanoreactors” for the immobilization of metal nanoparticles. The metal nanocomposite particles show “smart” catalytic behaviour, inasmuch as the catalytic activity of nanoparticles can be switched on and off through the volume transition that takes place within the thermosensitive shell of the carrier system. We also discuss possible future applications of these systems.

Keywords

Microgels
Thermosensitive
Core–shell

Cited by (0)

Matthias Ballauff studied chemistry at the University of Mainz, where he received his degree in 1977 in the group of Professor Dr. B.A. Wolf. In 1981, he received his doctorate working in the same group at the Institute of Physical Chemistry. From 1981 to 1983, Matthias Ballauff was a postdoc in Professor P.J. Flory's group at Stanford University, where he studied liquid crystalline polymers and defined liquid crystalline model oligomers. He then worked with Professor Dr. G. Wegner and Professor Dr. E.W. Fischer at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz. After his habilitation at the University of Mainz in 1989, Matthias Ballauff became Professor in the Faculty of Chemistry at the University of Karlsruhe. Since 2003, Matthias Ballauff is professor for physical chemistry (Lehrstuhl Physikalische Chemie I) in the University of Bayreuth. Professor Ballauff was a member of the DFG committee for areas of special research and is a member of the board of the journal Colloid & Polymer Science, and a member of the Executive Advisory Board for the Macromolecular Journals.

Yan Lu was born in Wuxi, China. She received her Masters degree in Material Science at Donghua University (formerly China Textile University) in 2001. In 2005, she received her PhD with summa cum laude under the supervision of Prof. Dr. H.-J.P. Adler at the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry and Textile Chemistry in Dresden University of Technology, Germany. Since 2005, she works as post-doctor in Prof. Dr. M. Ballauff's group at the Department of Physical Chemistry I, University of Bayreuth. She was awarded “APi-Prize” for the best dissertation in 2005 by the German Chemical Society (GDCh) Division of Coatings and Pigments. Her research interests cover synthesis and characterization of polymer colloids, including polyelectrolyte brushes and microgels, and synthesis of metal nanocomposite particles.