Nanocomposite hybrid hydrogels (NC-Gels) are a topic of intense interest at present because they combine the advantages of the organic component (e.g., thermo-responsibility, biocompatibility, and ductility) and the inorganic component (e.g., rigidity, thermal stability, photo-thermal properties, and conductivity) into one material.  We have been focusing on NC-Gels with controlling over the cross-linking agents, polymer components, hydrogel network structure, and their functions.  A series of NC-Gels were developed with surprising mechanical properties, multiple sensitivity, and multi-functionalities. More recently, a facile approach was proposed to fabricate NC-Gels by using photoactive polystyrene (PS) nanoparticles as the cross-linking agent, which provides a platform in building up complex system for the smart hydrogels.  The PS nanoparticles can be incorporated by functional inorganic particles to obtain hybrid particles (H-PS), and further be used as cross-linking agents to fabricate hybrid hydrogels (H-Gels).  These materials offer prospects for new application in diverse fields including of drug delivery, biomedical engineering and smart sensor. Acknowledgement:  This research is financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation for distinguished Young Scholar of China (50925312), National Natural Science Foundation of China (50873022), Program for ChangJiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University (T2011079,IRT 1221), and National High-Tech Research and Development Program of China (2012 AA030309).

Structure-function combined design of nanocomposite hydrogels (NC-gels) and their application

248th National Meeting (2014)

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