h i g h l i g h t sSuperabsorbent polymers cause a densification of the cementitious matrix. Additional water counteracts densification and leads to the same capillary porosity. Care needs to be taken when using high amounts of SAPs in cementitious materials. Superabsorbent polymers affect the microstructure and strength properties.
Cracks are concrete's worst problem. External, passive treatments are expensive and time consuming. pHresponsive superabsorbent polymers (SAPs) offer an internal active solution. When cracks occur, the SAPs can swell, fill the crack (self-sealing) and assist in the formation of healing products (self-healing). In previous work, a range of (superabsorbent) polymers have been synthesized and characterized. Based on these results, the two best performing SAPs were chosen for further characterization. The results indicate that the SAPs developed do not show degradation in cement filtrate solutions. Upon addition of SAPs, a decrease in mortar strength occurred, yet a positive effect on self-sealing was observed since the water permeability decreased. Furthermore, the formation of products became apparent at the sealed cracks of the mortar samples containing 1 m% SAPs. Identification using scanning electron microscopy, infrared spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis indicated that the products mainly consisted of healing products (more specifically CaCO 3 ) which is illustrative for self-healing.
Alkaline Phosphatase (ALP), an enzyme involved in mineralization of bone, was incorporated into three hydrogel biomaterials to induce their mineralization with calcium phosphate (CaP). These were collagen type I, a mussel protein-inspired adhesive consisting of PEG substituted with catechol groups, cPEG, and the PEG-fumaric acid copolymer OPF. After incubation in calcium glycerophosphate (Ca-GP) solution, FTIR, EDS, SEM, XRD, SAED, ICP-OES and von Kossa staining confirmed CaP formation. The amount of mineral formed decreased in the order cPEG > collagen > OPF. Mineral:polymer ratio decreased in the order collagen > cPEG > OPF. Mineralization increased Young’s modulus, most profoundly for cPEG. Such enzymatically mineralized hydrogel-CaP composites could find application as bone regeneration materials.
In recent years, research efforts in the field of ordered mesoporous materials are shifting towards either hybrid materials, containing both inorganic (typically silica) and organic functionalities, or towards variants that do not contain silica at all. Promising examples of hybrid materials are periodic mesoporous organosilicas (PMOs); examples of non-siliceous mesoporous materials are carbons, polymers and metal oxides. They can be further tuned to obtain structures with a wide range of functional groups, and are candidates for applications in adsorption, catalysis, sensoring, microelectronics and several other applications.
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