Abstract:
As an emerging material, organohydrogel has both the advantages of hydrogel and organogel. It is a kind of soft material with broad application prospect. However, the preparation process of organohydrogel is complicated. Meanwhile, as an information display platform, organohydrogel has harsh condition for displaying information. An organohydrogel with simple preparation process and convenient information display was prepared. Poly(6-acetoxyl-
ε-caprolactone) (PCCL) prepolymers with double bonds at both ends were prepared by the reaction of hydroxyl-terminated with isocyanate. The PCCL-based organogel was prepared by free radical polymerization in ethanol by mixing the prepolymer with crosslinking agent
N,N'-methylene-bisacrylamide (BIS). The PCCL-based organohydrogel was obtained by the solvent replacement method, which realized the transition between the organogel and the organohydrogel. The structures and compositions of the polymers and organohydrogels were characterized by
1H-NMR and FT-IR. At the same time, the sensitivity of organohydrogel to different solvents was studied by ultraviolet transmittance test. The results showed that the double bond modification degree of PCCL can reach 95%. The prepared organohydrogel showed an obvious transparent change in different solvents. For example, when the organohydrogel was in water (poor solvent), the polymer molecular chains of PCCL were precipitated from water due to the formation of microphase separation and hydrophobic association. The organohydrogel became white and opaque. When the organohydrogel was immersed in ethanol (suitable solvent), it could be restored to a colorless and transparent state due to the destruction of the microphase separation. Patterning was preformed in the organohydrogel. The organohydrogel could realize the writing, reading, wiping and protecting of information by using its different transparency in different solvents. The research on the design strategy and mechanism of PCCL-based organohydrogel was expected to be used as an information storage and display platform.