Absorption Properties of Microgel-PVP Composite Nanofibers Made by Electrospinning

✍ Scribed by Juan Esteban Díaz; Antonio Barrero; Manuel Márquez; Alberto Fernández-Nieves; Ignacio G. Loscertales

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2009
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 363 KB
• Volume: 31
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1022-1336
• DOI: 10.1002/marc.200900534

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

The absorption and desorption of water, as well as the retention of certain molecules within a polymeric network, have special interest in a wide range of applications, including drug delivery, biosensing, chemical separation, catalysis, and optics. In this communication, we report the encapsulation by electrospinning of poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide)‐based monodisperse microgels within microfibers of crosslinked poly(vinylpyrrolidone), which is a hydrogel itself, up to concentrations of 40 wt.‐% of the microgels. We present an optical characterization of these composite microfibers and quantify their absorbance, which can be as large as 17 times their de‐swollen weight. Interestingly, this absorbance can be tuned by controlling the values of the temperature and the pH of the medium.

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