Chemistry Department, University of Paderborn, Warburger Str. 100, D-33098 Paderborn, Germany.
Chem Soc Rev. 2013 Sep 7;42(17):7391-420. doi: 10.1039/c3cs60031a. Epub 2013 May 15.
Although the technological and scientific importance of functional polymers has been well established over the last few decades, the most recent focus that has attracted much attention has been on stimuli-responsive polymers. This group of materials is of particular interest due to its ability to respond to internal and/or external chemico-physical stimuli, which is often manifested as large macroscopic responses. Aside from scientific challenges of designing stimuli-responsive polymers, the main technological interest lies in their numerous applications ranging from catalysis through microsystem technology and chemomechanical actuators to sensors that have been extensively explored. Since the phase transition phenomenon of hydrogels is theoretically well understood advanced materials based on the predictions can be prepared. Since the volume phase transition of hydrogels is a diffusion-limited process the size of the synthesized hydrogels is an important factor. Consistent downscaling of the gel size will result in fast smart gels with sufficient response times. In order to apply smart gels in microsystems and sensors, new preparation techniques for hydrogels have to be developed. For the up-coming nanotechnology, nano-sized gels as actuating materials would be of great interest.
虽然功能高分子在过去几十年中的技术和科学重要性已经得到充分证实，但最近引起广泛关注的是刺激响应性聚合物。由于这类材料能够对外界和/或内部的化学物理刺激做出响应，通常表现为较大的宏观响应，因此具有特殊的研究意义。除了设计刺激响应性聚合物的科学挑战之外，其主要技术兴趣在于其广泛应用，从催化到微系统技术和化学机械致动器，再到已经得到广泛探索的传感器。由于水凝胶的相转变现象在理论上得到了很好的理解，因此可以根据预测来制备基于水凝胶的先进材料。由于水凝胶的体积相转变是一个扩散受限的过程，因此合成水凝胶的尺寸是一个重要因素。凝胶尺寸的持续缩小将导致具有足够响应时间的快速智能凝胶。为了将智能凝胶应用于微系统和传感器，必须开发用于水凝胶的新制备技术。对于即将到来的纳米技术，纳米尺寸的凝胶作为致动材料将具有很大的研究兴趣。
