Development of zwitterionic copolymers with multi-shape memory effects and moisture-sensitive shape memory effects

  • Shaojun Chen*
  • , Funian Mo
  • , Florian J. Stadler
  • , Shiguo Chen
  • , Zaochuan Ge
  • , Haitao Zhuo
  • *Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

44 Scopus citations

Abstract

Shape memory polymers (SMP) and zwitterionic polymers both have great applications in biomedical fields. This works successfully combines functionalities of zwitterionic polymers and SMP, developing new kind of zwitterionic copolymers having a multi-shape memory effect (SME) and a moisture-sensitive SME. The results demonstrate that a series of zwitterionic multi-SMPs, coded as p(DMAPS-co-AA), were synthesized from DMAPS and acrylic acid (AA). A micro-phase separated structure is formed in the resulting p(DMAPS-co-AA). The strong hydrogen bonding between AA segments serves as a reversible switch, while the strong electrostatic forces among DMAPS segments serve as physical crosslinkers. Therefore, shape memory testing demonstrates that p(DMAPS-co-AA) shows not only dual-SME, but also triple-SME and quadruple-sSME. Moreover, in addition to the thermally-induced SME, p(DMAPS-co-AA) also shows moisture-sensitive SME. It is thus proposed that this zwitterionic multi-SMP could find great potential applications in smart biomedical fields.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)6645-6655
Number of pages11
JournalJournal of Materials Chemistry B
Volume3
Issue number32
DOIs
StatePublished - 3 Jul 2015
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 The Royal Society of Chemistry.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Medicine
  • General Chemistry
  • Biomedical Engineering
  • General Materials Science

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