Responsive hydrogel colloids : Structure, interactions, phase behavior, and equilibrium and nonequilibrium transitions of microgel dispersions

Soft and responsive colloids based on polymer hydrogels have moved into the focus of the colloid community. This review gives a brief overview of the recent literature on the structure and phase behavior of neutral and ionic poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) microgel dispersions from dilute to over-packed conditions, focusing in particular on the ability of these particles to adapt their size and shape in response to external stimuli. The review is hierarchical; it first covers the aspects of an individual microgel particle viz., the internal structure of inhomogeneous and homogeneously cross-linked particles, followed by studies of ensembles of particles covering in particular structural ordering, phase behavior, and liquid–solid and solid–solid transitions. Insights on the ability of the microgel particles to deform, compress, and interpenetrate beyond the close-packed volume fractions are discussed. Building complex architectures using microgel particles for fundamental studies as well as future applications is reviewed towards the end of the article

Dye degradation studies of Mo-doped TiO2 thin films developed by reactive sputtering.

TiO2 thin films with various Mo concentrations have been deposited on glass and n‐type silicon (100) substrates by this radio‐frequency (RF) reactive magnetron sputtering at 400°C substrate temperature. The crystal structure, surface morphology, composition, and elemental oxidation states of the films have been analyzed by using X‐ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy, respectively. Ultraviolet‐visible spectroscopy has been used to investigate the degradation, transmittance, and absorption properties of doped and undoped TiO2 films. The photocatalytic degradation activity of the films was evaluated by using methylene blue under a light intensity of 100 mW cm−2. The X‐ray diffraction patterns show the presence of anatase phase of TiO2 in the developed films. X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy studies have confirmed that Mo is present only as Mo6+ ions in all films. The Mo/TiO2 band gap decreases from ~3.3 to 3.1 eV with increasing Mo dopant concentrations. Dye degradation of ~60% is observed in Mo/TiO2 samples, which is much higher than that of pure TiO2

Optical and rheological studies on weak gel-sol transition in aqueous solutions of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-block-polystyrene

The optical and rheological properties of aqueous solutions of block copolymer composed of low molecular weight poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-b-polystyrene are studied as a function of temperature. From light scattering measurements the block copolymer solution is found to form micelles at very low concentrations and the critical micellar concentration is identified as 0.005 wt%. Apart from the concentration dependence, a unique temperature dependent micelle formation is noted at 34 °C. Further, temperature dependent refractive index measurements shows that the refractive index increases with temperature (beyond the lower critical solution temperature, 31.6 °C of the polymer), and is attributed to the stable rearrangement of the proximal hydrophobic isopropyl-polystyrene chains in the collapsed polymer so as to overcome the steric hindrance effects offered by the hydrophobic chains. In the polymer concentrations investigated for rheological studies, the solution flows, yet manifested solid like behavior with G' > G" with the modulus being frequency dependent and the magnitude of G' two-fold higher than G" implying a weak gel state. Weak gel states are in general noted at high temperatures in most of the polymer systems, contrary to this, in our studies weak gel state is observed at lower temperature. Further, a transition from weak gel to sol state is observed at slightly elevated temperatures. The reason for the existence of weak gel state below the lower critical solution temperature is due to the micellar entanglements of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-b-polystyrene with one another and whereas above the lower critical solution temperature disentanglement of the micelles makes the system behave like a viscoelastic liquid

Cu/TiO2 thin films prepared by reactive RF magnetron sputtering

Cu/TiO2 thin films were deposited on glass substrates by reactive RF magnetron sputtering technique. Crystalline structure, surface morphology and electronic structure were studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Transmittance and absorptance of these films were characterized by UV–Vis spectroscopy. XRD patterns demonstrate that TiO2 films deposited on glass substrate at 300 °C are observed to be in pure anatase phase, whereas Cu/TiO2 films are amorphous in nature at 300 °C substrate temperature. The crystallinity of Cu/TiO2 thin films decreases with increasing the dopant concentrations of Cu in TiO2 films. XPS studies show that Cu is in +2 oxidation state in all films. The optical band gap of Cu/TiO2 films decreases from ~3.3 to ~2.0 eV with the increase in the copper concentration. Further, antimicrobial studies of Cu/TiO2 films with ~3.9 at.% Cu exhibit high transmittance and best antimicrobial activity against E. coli and S. aureus compared to other doped films