Comparison of Characteristics of Poly(Nisopropylacrylamide) in Bulk Hydrogel and Ball-milled Microgel Forms

Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) hydrogels are a popular temperature sensitive biomaterial. Bulk hydrogels can be quickly and easily processed into microgels using a ball mill. However, there is no information on whether the mechanical milling process affects critical PNIPAM characteristics. In this work, we compare swelling and thermo-responsive properties for a series of PNIPAM gels in bulk and microgel forms.