Some excursions in the world of stimuli-responsive polymeric gels

Abstract

Stimuli-responsive polymeric gels arc attracting increasing attention due to their great potential as smart materials. Some of the recent work in the area of Science and applications of these materials, including from our own school at NCL, is described The quantitative basis for volume transition in the gels is first presented. Our recent findings on deformation- dependent swelling as well as certain aspects of microdynamics
in gels studied through NMR have been highlighted Specific applications based on this fundamental understanding have been described. These include the development of a macromolecular separation technique based on swelling/collapsing gels. The basis for diffusion modulation of gels to switch from Fickian to non-Fickian diffusion has been presented. A practical application of such diffusion modulation in sustained-release systems is described. Diverse applications exploiting the stimuli-responsive abtlity of gels in areas such as sensors, soft actuators, artificial muscles, intelligent sponges, etc are finally presented.