Smart polymer
Encyclopedia
Smart polymers or stimuli-responsive polymers are high-performance polymers that change according to the environment they are in.
Such materials can be sensitive to a number of factors, such as temperature
, humidity
, pH
, the intensity of light
or an electrical or magnetic field
and can respond in various ways, like altering colour or transparency, becoming conductive or permeable to water or changing shape (shape memory polymers). Usually, slight changes in the environment are sufficient to induce greater change in the polymer’s properties.
Smart polymers appear in highly specialised applications and everyday products alike. They are used for the production of hydrogels, biodegradable packaging, and to a great extent in biomedical engineering
.
Such materials can be sensitive to a number of factors, such as temperature
Temperature
Temperature is a physical property of matter that quantitatively expresses the common notions of hot and cold. Objects of low temperature are cold, while various degrees of higher temperatures are referred to as warm or hot...
, humidity
Humidity
Humidity is a term for the amount of water vapor in the air, and can refer to any one of several measurements of humidity. Formally, humid air is not "moist air" but a mixture of water vapor and other constituents of air, and humidity is defined in terms of the water content of this mixture,...
, pH
PH
In chemistry, pH is a measure of the acidity or basicity of an aqueous solution. Pure water is said to be neutral, with a pH close to 7.0 at . Solutions with a pH less than 7 are said to be acidic and solutions with a pH greater than 7 are basic or alkaline...
, the intensity of light
Light intensity
Several measures of light are commonly known as intensity. These are obtained by dividing either a power or a luminous flux by a solid angle, a planar area, or a combination of the two...
or an electrical or magnetic field
Magnetic field
A magnetic field is a mathematical description of the magnetic influence of electric currents and magnetic materials. The magnetic field at any given point is specified by both a direction and a magnitude ; as such it is a vector field.Technically, a magnetic field is a pseudo vector;...
and can respond in various ways, like altering colour or transparency, becoming conductive or permeable to water or changing shape (shape memory polymers). Usually, slight changes in the environment are sufficient to induce greater change in the polymer’s properties.
Smart polymers appear in highly specialised applications and everyday products alike. They are used for the production of hydrogels, biodegradable packaging, and to a great extent in biomedical engineering
Biomedical engineering
Biomedical Engineering is the application of engineering principles and design concepts to medicine and biology. This field seeks to close the gap between engineering and medicine: It combines the design and problem solving skills of engineering with medical and biological sciences to improve...
.