Polymer, Vol.155, 75-82, 2018
Dynamics of thermoresponsive conetwork gels composed of poly(ethylene glycol) and poly(ethyl glycidyl ether-co-methyl glycidyl ether)
The dynamics of thermoresponsive conetwork gels consisting of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and poly(ethyl glycidyl ether-co-methyl glycidyl ether) (PEMGE) (PEG-PEMGE gel) was systematically investigated as a function of temperature and the mole fraction of the thermoresponsive modules (PEMGE) r using dynamic light scattering (DLS). The PEG-PEMGE gels were prepared by end-linking of four-armed hydrophilic modules (TetraPEG) and four-armed lower critical solution temperature (LCST)-type modules (Tetra-PEMGE) in water by the molar ratio of (1 - r): r, where r was varied from 0.1, to, 0.2, 0.3, and 0.4. The dynamics of the conetwork gels was discussed with the ensemble-average of the field correlation function, g(E)((1)) (tau), which was classified to three temperature regions: at low temperatures below LCST of PEMGE ( approximate to 23 degrees C) (region I), the dynamics was insensitive to r. On the other hand, strong r-dependence was observed for temperatures >= LCST (regions II and III). By approaching the LCST (region II), the slow dynamics component in g(E)((1)) (tau) became more pronounced due to formation of hydrophobic domains. Additionally, the power-law exponent of the slow mode decreased in region II (near the LCST). In region III, the slow dynamics disappeared as a result of the further growth and immobilization of the hydrophobic domains.