6533b85efe1ef96bd12bfaf6
RESEARCH PRODUCT
Origin of nanostructural inhomogeneity in polymer-network gels
Sebastian Seiffertsubject
Materials sciencePolymers and PlasticsPolymer networkOrganic ChemistryBioengineeringNanotechnology02 engineering and technology010402 general chemistry021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology01 natural sciencesBiochemistry0104 chemical scienceschemistry.chemical_compoundMonomerchemistryChemical engineeringNano-Mechanical strengthCopolymer0210 nano-technologydescription
Polymer-network gels often display nano- to microstructural spatial inhomogeneity of their polymer-segmental and crosslinking densities, especially if they are formed by uncontrolled free-radical crosslinking copolymerization of mono- and multifunctional monomers and crosslinkers. This structural complexity markedly affects their optical clarity, mechanical strength, and permeability, which is of central relevance for their performance in everyday-life and high-tech products. This review summarizes and inter-relates a rich amount of existing studies on the origin of this inhomogeneity. It arcs from early fundamental work in the 1990s, development and assessment of highly ideal and super tough model-network gels in the 2000s, up to more recent work on hierarchically structured gels.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-01-01 | Polymer Chemistry |