The preparation and characterization of thermo-sensitive colored hydrogel film and surfactant-free porous polystyrene three-dimensional network.

Polymer hydrogel films change their properties in response to environmental change. This remarkable phenomenon results in many potential applications of polymer hydrogel films. In this thesis colored thermo-sensitive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm) hydrogel film was prepared by firstly synthesizing polymer latex and secondarily crosslinking the nanoparticles and casting the polymers onto glass. The shape-memory effect has been observed when changing the environmental temperature. The temperature-dependent of turbidity of polymer hydrogel film was measured by HP UVVisible spectrophotometer. This intelligent hydrogel might be used in chemomechanical systems and separation devices as well as sensors. Polymer adsorption plays an important role in many products and processes. In this thesis, surfactant-free three-dimensional polystyrene (PS) nanoparticle network has been prepared. The infrared spectroscopy and solubility experiment are performed to prove the crosslinking mechanism, also the BET method was used to measure the adsorption and desorption of polystyrene network. The BET constant (C) is calculated (C=6.32). The chemically bonded polymer nanoparticle network might have potential applications as catalyst or used for chromatographic columns