Electrochemical synthesis of polymer microgels

Controlled nucleation from solution using polymer microgels.

Despite its widespread occurrence in nature and broad application in industrial practice, nucleation of crystalline materials remains largely unpredictable and therefore difficult to control. In this work, we demonstrate a new method to control nucleation with polymer microgels by tuning their microstructure to vary systematically the degree of nanoscopic confinement and its effects on nucleati...

Controlled electrochemical synthesis of conductive polymer nanotube structures.

We have investigated the electrochemical synthetic mechanism of conductive polymer nanotubes in a porous alumina template using poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) as a model compound. As a function of monomer concentration and potential, electropolymerization leads either to solid nanowires or to hollow nanotubes, and it is the purpose of these investigations to uncover the detailed mecha...

1 Microgels and Their Synthesis : An Introduction

Controlled fabrication of polymer microgels by polymer-analogous gelation in droplet microfluidics†

We fabricate thermo-responsive polymer microgels by combining microfluidic pre-gel emulsification with polymer-analogous gelation. This separates the microgel formation from the polymer synthesis; it combines highly controlled microfluidic templating with the great flexibility of preparative polymer chemistry, allowing each to be controlled independently. We produce monodisperse pre-gel droplet...

Conducting polymer based electrochemical biosensors.

Conducting polymer (CP)-based electrochemical biosensors have gained great attention as such biosensor platforms are easy and cost-effective to fabricate, and provide a direct electrical readout for the presence of biological analytes with high sensitivity and selectivity. CP materials themselves are both sensing elements and transducers of the biological recognition event at the same time, sim...