Abstract
Graphical Abstract
Aqueous poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) solutions subjected to cryogenic treatment form strong physical gels. The cryogenic treatment basically consists of freezing an initially homogeneous polymer solution at low temperatures, storing in the frozen state for a definite time, and defrosting. These gels are of great interest for biotechnology, medicine, the food industry, and many other applications. The outstanding properties of these systems depend on a complex macroporous architecture, whereby PVA chains and water molecules are organized over different hierarchical length scales. The structure and the principal processes subtending the formation of these systems are discussed in the framework of our current understanding of polymer gels. These processes involve formation of ice crystals, PVA crystallization, liquid–liquid phase separation, hydrogen bonding, and entanglements. Small angle neutron scattering is used to follow the cryotropic gelation of PVA/water solutions and detailed information is extracted concerning the gelation mechanism and kinetic parameters related to the formation of these complex systems.
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Abbreviations
- a-PS:
-
Atactic polystyrene
- BP:
-
Berghmans point
- CLSM:
-
Confocal laser scanning microscopy
- C p :
-
Polymer concentration
- \( \raisebox{1ex}{$ d\sigma $}\!\left/ \!\raisebox{-1ex}{$ d\varOmega $}\right. \) :
-
Scattering cross-section
- d s :
-
Surface fractal dimension
- DSC:
-
Differential scanning calorimetry
- F :
-
Free energy
- 〈Φ〉:
-
Order parameter
- f c(DSC):
-
Fractions of crystalline phase from DSC analysis
- f c(NMR):
-
Fraction of rigid protons from NMR measurements
- f c(XR):
-
Crystallinity index from WAXS analysis
- LL:
-
Liquid–liquid phase separation
- NMR:
-
Nuclear magnetic resonance
- PEG:
-
Poly(ethylene glycol)
- PVA:
-
Poly(vinyl alcohol)
- q :
-
Scattering vector
- SANS:
-
Small angle neutron scattering
- SEM:
-
Scanning electronic microscopy
- TEM:
-
Transmission electron microscopy
- T g :
-
Glass transition temperature
- T m :
-
Melting temperature
- TR-SANS:
-
Time resolving-SANS
- UCST:
-
Upper critical solution temperature
- WAXS:
-
Wide angle X-ray scattering
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De Rosa, C., Auriemma, F., Di Girolamo, R. (2014). Kinetic Analysis of Cryotropic Gelation of Poly(Vinyl Alcohol)/Water Solutions by Small-Angle Neutron Scattering. In: Okay, O. (eds) Polymeric Cryogels. Advances in Polymer Science, vol 263. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05846-7_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05846-7_4
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