US Government As Represented by the Secretary of the Army

The Uab Research Foundation

Imee Arcibal

Donald M Cropek

Eugenia P Kharlampieva

Yun Wang

Veronika Koziovskaya

A novel type of ultrathin cationic hydrogel coatings are provided that have high, quick and reversible swelling/shrinkage transitions and surface wettability in response to pH changes. The poly(4-vinyl pyridine) (PVP) hydrogel films are produced by selective cross-linking of PVP copolymers in layer-by-layer (LbL) films assembled by spin-assisted method. These multilayer hydrogels exhibit drastic and reversible 10-fold swelling when the pH is changed from neutral to acidic. The swelling amplitude of these coatings is controlled by varying cross-link densities within the films. The pH-responsive hydrogels open new prospects for developing 'intelligent' materials with sharp stimuli-triggered responses for applications in sensing, transport regulation, and self-cleaning coatings.

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Champaign, IL, United States of America

Imee Arcibal