Temperature‐responsive polymers are polymeric materials exhibiting reversible changes in their physicochemical properties in response to changes in temperature. In solutions these polymers may undergo phase separation forming colloidal suspensions, precipitates, or gels (Figure 1.1). Weakly cross‐linked temperature‐responsive polymers swell in water and form hydrogels, which may undergo changes in their volume upon changes in environmental temperature.
Figure 1.11 Different types of phase separation in solutions of temperature‐responsive polymers: formation of stable colloidal suspensions (a), physical gels with different degrees of transparency (b), and precipitates (c) in response to increase in environmental temperature.
Source: Panel (a): Reprinted with permission from [1]. Copyright (2008) American Chemical Society. Panels (b) and (c): Source: Reprinted from [2] under ®2017 by MDPI (http://www.mdpi.org).
There are two main behaviors of temperature‐responsive polymers in solution. The first type of polymers includes the systems that exhibit a lower critical solution temperature (LCST); these undergo phase transitions above certain temperature. The second type of systems has upper critical solution temperature (UCST) and shows the opposite behavior as they undergo phase separation below certain temperature.
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