Author(s)

Yu Wang^1,2*, Huifang Xia¹, Jun Zhao¹, Xiuqin Cai³, Shengke Chen¹, Bengxiu Li^3,4

¹School of Chemistry and Materials Sciences, Guizhou Education University, Guiyang, China.
²Anshun Engineering Research Centre of Concrete Admixture, Anshun, China.
³School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Weinan Normal University, Weinan, China.
⁴GuizhouTiejinahengfa New Material Technology Co. Ltd., Anshun, China.

A methology is described for the synthesis of novel temperature-responsive interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) hydrogels with poly(2-acrylamido- 2-methylpropane sulfonic acid) (PAMPS) as a tightly crosslinked 1st network, temperature-responsive poly(acrylamide-co-N-(1,1-dimethyl-3-oxobutyl)- acrylamide) (P(AM-co-DAAM)) with low cost as a lossely crosslinked 2nd network. The structure and morphology of the IPN hydrogels were characterized by FTIR, TGA and SEM, and the results indicated that PAMPS network introduced P(AM-co-DAAM) hydrogels have large, thermally stable and interconnected porous network. The properties of the IPN hydrogels, which include: swelling capacity, equilibrium swelling/deswelling ratio, temperature- responsive behavior, and the dwelling kinetics as specific temperature, were investigated carefully. Results showed that the obtained IPN hydrogels displayed a controllable equilibrium swelling/deswelling behavior and possessed remarkable thermosensitivity. In addition, the results also indicate that the incorporation of the hydrophobic groups DAAM has a big effect on the LCST of the IPN hydrogels. Consequently, these novel temperature-responsive IPN hydrogels with low cost and slow-releasing performance would be promising for potential applications, such as environmental catalysis, water treatment, and agriculture.

Temperature-Responsive, Hydrogel, Interpenetrating Polymer Network, Equi-librium Swelling Ratio, Slow-Releasing Performance

Wang, Y. , Xia, H. , Zhao, J. , Cai, X. , Chen, S. and Li, B. (2018) A Novel Design Strategy for Temperature-Responsive IPN Hydrogels Based on a Copolymer of Acrylamide and N-(1,1-Dimethyl-3-Oxobutyl)-Acrylamide. Advances in Chemical Engineering and Science, 8, 255-270. doi: 10.4236/aces.2018.84018.