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The adhesion of hydrogels has attracted attention for use in building three-dimensional (3D) constructs, such as scaffolds for cell culture, carriers of drug release system and soft actuators. Electrophoretic hydrogel adhesion, which is the electrophoretic manipulation of a polyelectrolyte to form an adhesive layer at the interface of two gels, was developed. To apply this adhesive method to build 3D materials, rapid and free-form fabrication of hydrogel constructs was achieved by the electrophoretic adhesion of microgels. The development of a novel adhesion strategy will be useful for the fabrication of novel 3D hydrogel architectures.
Biodegradable aliphatic carbonyl polymers, such as polylactides, polylactones and polycarbonates, have been studied for applications in a broad range of resorbable medical devices. This review mainly highlights the synthesis and application of poly(trimethylene carbonate) (PTMC) analogs with various substituents derived from 2,2-bis(methylol)propionic acid. In addition, organocatalytic transesterification is discussed as an indispensable tool for further functionalization and sophistication of the PTMC analogs.
A series of conducting copolymers including fluorene (F) and 3-hexylthiophene (3HT) were synthesized in chloroform by chemical oxidative polymerization with FeCl3, and the incorporation of fluorene and 3HT units into the resultant copolymer main chain was clarified. The quantum yield value of obtained copolymers determined by relative method increased by the amount of incorporated fluorene molecules in the resulting copolymer backbone. In addition, fluorene was demonstrated to play an important role in enhancing the thermal stability of the copolymers.
Significant progress in cylindrical microdomain orientation is reported for a polystyrene-block-poly(ethylene-co-butylene)-block-polystyrene triblock copolymer (SEBS-16) as analyzed by two-dimensional small-angle X-ray scattering. To achieve this goal, the morphological transition from sphere to cylinder was utilized. By applying compressional flow to the SEBS-16 specimen undergoing a morphological transition at 210 °C, superior cylinder orientation was achieved compared with the results obtained by applying compressional flow to the SEBS-16 specimen containing the cylindrical phase.
Cubic silsesquioxanes (POSS) with various alkyl substituents were loaded onto commodity-conjugated polymers such as polyfluorene and poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) to investigate structure-property relationships between the substituents of POSS fillers and properties of the polymer films. It was found that the series of POSS fillers can be introduced into conjugated polymer films with high concentrations. Owing to high miscibility, it was demonstrated that POSS can work as a superior molecular filler for realizing homogeneous amorphous films with high thermal stability based on conjugated polymers.
The first oligo(3-methoxythiophene) films that naturally appeared gold-like and lustrous green color tones were prepared by the cyclic potential-sweep electropolymerization of 3-methoxythiophene. Control experiments and optical/structural analyses showed that the films consisted of the edge-on and face-on lamella structures of the oligomers, and that the former structure contributed to the development of gold-like luster. Also, it was suggested that the action of the cyclic potential sweep was to preferentially destroy the face-on lamella, highlight the effect of the edge-on lamella, and develop gold-like luster.
Polymeric materials can be directly converted into molecular recognition materials by applying alternative molecular imprinting. This is expected to produce adsorbents that can specifically adsorb cesium ions. To this end, a polymeric adsorbent was converted from polyacrylonitrile, adopting cesium chloride as a print molecule. As a result, Cs+-recognition sites were formed in the presence of CsCl during the adsorbent preparation process. The adsorbents obtained in the present study are expected to be useful as specific adsorbents for capturing the nuclear waste, Cs+.
