Okihiko Hirasa

Fast responsive poly(N-sopropylacrylamide) hydrogels prepared by γ-ray irradiation

Abstract γ-ray irradiation of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAm) monomer. solution resulted in the formation of the opaque poly (N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm) gel having a microporous structure. The thermo-responsive properties of the microporous gel were the same as that of a homogeneous gel prepared by conventional methods. The gel swelled below and shrunk above the lower critical solution temperature (LCST) (33 °C). The rapid and reversible volume change was observed by changing temperature.

Thermoresponsive Polymer Hydrogel

In recent years, materials responding external stimuli have become of major interest and have been applied to sensor or memory media.

Electrical Deformation of Thermotropic Liquid-Crystalline Polymer Gels

Abstract Liquid-crystalline elastomer carrying cyanobiphenyl side groups was synthesized by radical copolymerization of 6-(4′-cyanobiphenyl-4-yloxy)hexyl acrylate and hexamethylene diacrylate. Liqu...

Gel Dewatering Process for Biological Slurry

Biological slurries, such as excess activated sludge from wastewater treatment plants, organic waste slurry from alcohol production process, etc., generally contain tremendous amount of water. Most of these slurries have to be concentrated/dewatered before further processing so as to make the relevant process economically feasible. However, they are composed of highly hydrophilic organic solids and difficult to be dewatered. Filtration is one of the conventional dewatering methods, but it carries some drawbacks for the efficient treatment of large amount of highly hydrophilic slurry. This article is proposing a novel process which utilizes temperature-sensitive hydrogel as filtration media.