Synthesis and characterization of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) hybrid microgels with different cross-linker contents

Four compositions of thermo sensitive poly(n-isopropylacrylamide) polymer microgels were synthesized with different cross-linking contents by free radical emulsion polymerization. hybrid gels were synthesized by reducing silver ions inside the polymer chains by using nabh4 as a reducing agent. effects of temperature and cross-linking density on the size of microgel particles were studied. variation in size and volume phase transition temperature (vptt) by the introduction of silver nanoparticles in microgels was also investigated. it was found that the size of the microgel particles decreases by increasing temperature. ft-ir spectroscopy was used to confirm the presence of different functional groups in the microgels system. dynamic laser light scattering (dlls) was used to determine the hydrodynamic radius (rh) of the microgel particles at different temperatures. surface plasmon resonance (spr) behavior of the hybrid gels was investigated by uv-vis spectroscopy.