Frontal polymerization synthesis of scandium polyacrylamide nanomaterial and its application in humidity testing

Frontal Polymerizations: From Chemical Perspectives to Macroscopic Properties and Applications

“…The majority of published reports employ frontal free-radical polymerization (Section ; refs , , , , − , , − , , − , , − , , , , , , − , − , , ). The addition of a thermal radical source induces a series of radical chain reactions of acrylate or acrylamide derived monomers.…”

“…There exist numerous potential applications for FP as a result of the rapid rate of polymerization. Swellable hydrogels (section ) with well-defined pore sizes are easily obtained with frontal free-radical polymerization techniques (refs , − , − , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , − , , , , ), which is in stark contrast to batch-scale methods. These frontally derived hydrogels exhibit stimuli responsive behavior, wherein the swelling properties vary with nature of the surroundings (e.g., temperature, pH).…”

“…Free-radical polymerizations are the most common type of frontal systems, with over 80 published reports as of 2022 (refs , , , , − , , − , , − , , − , , , , , , − ). Three distinct mechanistic regimes exist for chain growth radical polymerizations (see the simplified Scheme ).…”

“…The physical properties of hydrogels synthesized frontally are comparable, if not better than, traditional synthesized analogues. To date, more than 30 reports detailing the synthesis and properties of frontally prepared hydrogels exist (refs , − , − , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , − , , , , ).…”

“…Stimuli-responsive swelling hydrogels (Section ) exhibit interesting possibilities as chemical sensing materials, and several reported examples exist. ,,,,, Effective chemical sensors rely on substantial differences of some quantifiable physical parameters (e.g., light absorbance/emission, resistivity, capacitance) when in the presence of an analyte . Indeed, this type of behavior occurs for ion adsorbing hydrogels, as observed in Figure A, but adaptation to a quantifiable sensor has not yet occurred for metal ion detection.…”