Surface-bound microgels & microgel superstructures – synthesis, switching and imaging (A06)

• Subject Area: Experimental and Theoretical Physics of Polymers
• Term: since 2012
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 191948804

The binding of microgels to surfaces will enable us to create new microgel superstructures and to investigate the structural properties of microgels and the transport within them with advanced microscopic methods. The directed binding of microgels to surfaces will be facilitated through DNA functionalization, whereby DNA hybridization provides a stimuli-responsiveness in addition to, and independently of, the one of the volume phase transition of the microgels. Thereby, reversible and stimuli-responsive crosslinks can be formed via DNA hybridization, as well, allowing for a control of the mechanical properties of microgels.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 985: Functional Microgels and Microgel Systems
• Applicant Institution: Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen
• Project Heads: Professor Dr. Alexander Böker, until 1/2015; Professor Dr. Felix Plamper, until 6/2020; Professor Dr. Ulrich Simon; Professor Dr. Dominik Wöll, since 7/2016