Nanocomposites of thermosensitive hydrogels and conducting polymers. Building a drug delivery system driven by electromagnetic radiation

M.A. MOLINA; C.R. RIVAROLA; CRISTINA MIRAS; CESAR A BARBERO

Miami

Simposio; Nanotechnology in biomedicine; 2012

Hydrogels based on crosslinked acrylamide are interesting candidates for technological applications, such as drug release. Specifically, hydrogels (HG) sensitive to external parameters (pH, temperature, ionic force, electric field, etc) constitute the so called ?smart? hydrogels which could react actively to changes in the environment. The materials could also be used in chemical or mechanical actuators since they change volume and expel a significant amount of its inner solution when a transition is induced by external action. It is known that conductive polymers absorb electromagnetic radiation strongly , specifically in the microwave range, with heating up of the polymer. By compositing a smart (thermosensitive) hydrogel matrix with a conductive polymer it would be possible to induce the hydrogel phase transition using microwave or near infrared radiation (NIR). Two kind of smart nanocomposites (NC) based on N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM) and polyaniline (PANI) as conductive polymers, are fabricated. Upon irradiation of the NC with microwaves or NIR laser light, the PANI heat up and induce the phase transition of the thermosensitive hydrogel matrix and the internal solution is released.