Workshop on Soft Matter - Surface-bound microgels: Unusual properties and novel applications of nanoarchitected polymer films
Omar Azzaroni
Instituto de Investigaciones Fisicoquímicas Teóricas y Aplicadas (INIFTA) - CONICET- Universidad Nacional de La Plata – Argentina
10:40 - 11:20 Thursday 07 February 2019 PH01150 Soft nanostructured hydrogel surfaces have found an incredible resonance and a vast number of
applications in many areas during the past decade. Hydrogels, which possess a remarkable stimuli
responsive nature, represent one of the most widely used building blocks in the construction of
adaptive surfaces. Engineering such nanostructured surfaces often involves the integration of soft
topographic features, such as nanopillars or nanoparticles, onto planar substrates in order to
control and manipulate the mechanical behavior, adaptability, and functionality of the modified
surface.
The presentation will focus on our recent and latest work concerning both fundamental and
practical aspects of thermo-responsive nano-architected microgel thin films. The properties of
surface-bound poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) microgels will be discussed, ranging from
the templated formation of hydrogel nanopillars to the layer-by-layer construction of microgel
multilayers. In addition to the systematic experimental investigation, molecular dynamics
simulations will be presented in order to shed light on the molecular origin of the unusual
thermoresponsive properties of the nano-architected films.
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Institute of Solid State Physics
