Smart colloids

There are also some new trends emerging in areas that might not have been fully appreciated as recently as ten years ago. Three examples are smart colloids, nanodispersions, and the need to combat agents of terror. 

Emulsions, Foams, and Suspensions Fundamentals and Applications. Laurier L. Schramm Copyright 2005 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH Co. KGaA, Weinheim ISBN 3-527-30743-5 

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Smart colloids, 7 298 Smart control valves, 20 672 Smart Cotton-based wound dressings, 8 31 Smart fibers, 73 391... 

Smart colloids are colloidal dispersions for which certain properties, such as size and structure, can be altered by changing an external influence, such as temperature, eg, cross-linked polymer gels of poly(iV-isoproplyaciylamide). Such polymer systems can swell or shrink in response to temperature changes, and are also termed thermo-shrinking polymers. (see References 122-124). 

Polymer colloids have received an increasing interest in various applications and also biomedical areas in which they are mainly used as solid-phase supports of biomolecules. This is due to the versatility of the many heterophase elaboration processes (emulsion, dispersion, precipitation, physical processes) for making well-defined microspheres of appropriate particle sizes and surface reactive groups. In this direction, special attention has been dedicated to the preparation of smart colloids. The principal interest carried to colloidal particles based on alkyl(metha)acrylamide derivative is mainly related to their thermally sensitive colloidal properties. 

Wittemann A, Haupt B, BaUauff M Polyelectrolyte-mediated protein adsorption. In Richtering Weditor Smart colloidal materials, Berlin, 2006, Springer-Verlag, pp 58—64. 

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