Symposium SF05: Building Advanced Materials via Aggregation and Self-Assembly

Chung Man Lim, University of Michigan

Preparing Chiral Hydrogel by Using Coordination-Assembly Complex of Cobalt Oxide Nanoparticles for Chiromechanical Response

Written by Atif Javaid

Due to highly tunable mechanical properties and large free volume in the 3d network structure, polymer hydrogels are gaining interest in different electrical, pharmaceutical, biomedical, and other industrial applications. These polymer hydrogel systems are synthesized via covalent cross-linking processes, including radical polymerization, initiated by temperature, UV, and pH. However, the polymers have long and large polymer backbone, making it difficult to measure the viscoelastic properties of the hydrogels. Chung Man Lim and co-workers at the University of Michigan synthesized chiral gels from the combination of coordination-assembly complex of cobalt oxide nanoparticles with cadmium nitrate and cadmium bromide, delivering an increased G-factor values and chiroptical activity. They also applied graph theory on the SEM images of the chiral gels, validating improved nodal conductivity with the increasing cadmium salts.