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- Title
Mesoporous organohydrogels from thermogelling photocrosslinkable nanoemulsions.
- Authors
Helgeson, Matthew E.; Moran, Shannon E.; An, Harry Z.; Doyle, Patrick S.
- Abstract
We report the formation of mesoporous organohydrogels from oil-in-water nanoemulsions containing an end-functionalized oligomeric gelator in the aqueous phase. The nanoemulsions exhibit an abrupt thermoreversible transition from a low-viscosity liquid to a fractal-like colloidal gel of droplets with mesoscale porosity and solid-like viscoelasticity with moduli approaching 100?kPa, possibly the highest reported for an emulsion-based system. We hypothesize that gelation is brought about by temperature-induced interdroplet bridging of the gelator, as shown by its dependence on the gelator chemistry. The use of photocrosslinkable gelators enables the freezing of the nanoemulsion's microstructure into a soft hydrogel nanocomposite containing a large fraction of dispersed liquid hydrophobic compartments, and we show its use in the encapsulation and release of lipophilic biomolecules. The tunable structural, mechanical and optical properties of these organohydrogels make them a robust material platform suitable for a wide range of applications.
- Subjects
MESOPOROUS materials; HYDROGELS; VISCOELASTICITY; MODULUS of elasticity; GELATION
- Publication
Nature Materials, 2012, Vol 11, Issue 4, p344
- ISSN
1476-1122
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1038/nmat3248