Figure 2
From: Smart gating membranes with in situ self-assembled responsive nanogels as functional gates
Morphology of nanogels and membranes.
(a) FESEM image of air-dried PNIPAM nanogels (a1), CLSM image of PNIPAM nanogels dyed with Polyfluor 570 in water at room temperature (a2) and thermo-responsive hydrodynamic diameter of the PNIPAM nanogels in water (a3). Scale bars are 1 μm in (a1) and 3 μm in (a2). (b) FESEM images of cross-section (b1 and magnified b2) and surface (b3 and magnified b4) views of the reference membrane prepared via VIPS without nanogels. (c–f) FESEM images of cross-section (c1–f1 and magnified c2-f2) and surface (c3–f3 and magnified c4-f4) views of membranes prepared via VIPS with the contents of nanogels varying in the range from 4.25% (c), 8.50% (d), 12.75% (e) and 17.00% (f). The exposure time is 20 min, the vapor temperature is 25 °C and the relative humidity is 70%. Scale bars are 10 μm in (b1–f1) and (b3–f3), 1 μm in (b2-f2) and 3 μm in (b4–f4).
