Çiğdem Bilici, Sehri Karayel, Tuba T. Demir
Dec 5, 2010
Citations
0
Influential Citations
31
Citations
Journal
Journal of Applied Polymer Science
Abstract
This research highlights the use of poly(a- crylic acid) (PAAc) cryogels as a pH oscillator in oscilla- tory bromate-sulfite-ferrocyanide reactions. The cryogels were prepared from frozen aqueous solutions of acrylic acid monomer and N,N 0 -methylenebis(acrylamide) cross- linker at � 18 � C. Fast responsive macroporous PAAc cryo- gels were obtained at or below 4 w/v % initial monomer concentration. SEM images of PAAc cryogel networks exhibited a heterogeneous morphology consisting of pores of sizes 10 1 lm, typical for macroporous networks formed by the cryogelation technique. PAAc cryogels coupled with the bromate oscillator oscillate between swollen and collapsed states, during which a cyclic three-fold change in the gel volume was observed. The results show that, due to the fast response rate of cryogels, macroscopic gel samples can be used as a pH oscillator which would pro- vide generation of significant amount of mechanical energy. V C 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 118: 2981-2988, 2010