Responsive hydrogel-based core-shell particles and coatings: Synthesis, characterization and potential applications

Nowadays the idea of application of hydrogel microparticles as coatings is being thought by many researchers as a promising way to modify the material’s surface properties or prepare switchable and responsive surfaces. Facile, inexpensive synthetic methods, variability of structure and composition together with tunable responsive behaviour make microgels a promising material for a numerous practical applications. In this work the idea to create responsive surfaces, possessing the inverse switching effect of wetting by means of application of core-shell hydrogel-based particles was elaborated. Different approaches to obtain the novel class of composite microparticles having water-swellable hydrogel core and hydrophobic, but permeable for water shell were developed. It was demonstrated that properly designed and constracted core-shell particles could be successfully applied for preparation of smart adaptive coatings having the ability to alter the surface properties upon changing of the environment.