Cononsolvency of Poly(N,N-diethylacrylamide) (PDEAAM) and Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) Based Microgels in Water/Methanol Mixtures: Copolymer vs Core-Shell Microgel

The cononsolvency effect on the swelling of different stimuli-sensitive microgels was investigated in water/methanol mixtures. Poly(N,N-diethylacrylamide) (PDEAAM) and poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) homopolymer microgels, a PDEAAM-core−PNIPAM-shell microgel, and a poly(N,N-diethylacrylamide-co-N-isopropylacrylamide) (P(DEAAM−NIPAM)) microgel have been synthesized. The core−shell and the copolymer microgel have similar compositions; the PDEAAM core of the PDEAAM-core−PNIPAM-shell particle contributes 80% to the total mass, and the copolymer consists of 75% DEAAM and 25% PNIPAM. They were characterized with dynamic light scattering (DLS) and small-angle neutron scattering (SANS). Microgels containing PNIPAM show the cononsolvency effect, and the particle size reaches a minimum at a methanol fraction of xmethanol = 0.2. Moreover, in core−shell microgels, the cononsolvency effect can be limited to one compartment of the particle. A core−shell microgel with a PDEAAM core and PNIPAM shell reveals a sharp ...