THE EFFECT OF ADSORPTION ON THE MICRORHEOLOGY OF NANOPARTICLES/HYDROGEL COMPOSITES

It has recently been shown that nanoparticle solutions can be used as hydrogel adhesives due to an absorption process of the polymer, poly(dimethylacrylamide) (PDMA) onto the silica particles. In this work, we measure the viscoelastic properties of hydrogel-silica composites using microrheology. We compare two composite materials; one which absorbs to silica (dimethylacrylamide), and one that doesn’t (acrylamide). We find that adsorption of the polymer to the nanoparticle fillers causes a composite material made by polymerizing dimethylacrylamide in the presence of silica nanoparticles to alter its internal structure.