Amphiphilic Polymer Co-networks: Synthesis, Properties, Modelling and Applications
About this ebook
This book focuses on new developments in the field of APCNs, and is organised in four sections: synthesis, properties, applications and modelling. Co-network architectures included in the book chapters are mainly those deriving from hydrophobic macro-cross-linkers, representing the classical approach; however, more modern designs are also presented. Properties of interest discussed include aqueous swelling, thermophysical and mechanical properties, self-assembly, electrical actuation, and protein adsorption. Applications described in the book chapters include the use of co-networks as soft contact lenses, scaffolds for drug delivery and tissue engineering, matrices for heterogeneous biocatalysis, and membranes of controllable permeability. Finally, an important theory chapter on the modelling of the self-assembly of APCNs is also included.
The book is suitable for graduate students and researchers interested in hydrogels, polymer networks, polymer chemistry, block copolymers, self-assembly and nanomaterials, as well as their applications in contact lenses, drug delivery, tissue engineering, membranes and biocatalysis.
About the author
Professor Costas S. Patrickios earned his PhD in 1993 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Between 1994 and 1996, Dr Patrickios served as post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Sussex, and then (1996-1997) as Lecturer at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST). He joined the Department of Natural Science (now Department of Chemistry) at the University of Cyprus in 1998. His research has been focused on the preparation and characterization of amphiphilic polymer conetworks based on interconnected amphiphilic block copolymers synthesized using the living / controlled polymerization techniques group transfer polymerization (GTP), atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) and reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization. He is currently the Chair of the Polymer Networks Group (PNG), an international organization promoting research on polymer networks and gels.
