Chapter 4 - Smart polymer catalysts and their applications

Abstract

Smart polymeric materials demonstrate high-quality properties when exposed to slight changes from their external environments. The external stimuli that promote phase transitions in smart polymeric materials can either be physical (temperature, light, magnetic, ultrasounds), chemical (pH, solvent, and ionic strength), or biological (enzymes) in nature. Therefore, their ability to respond to very slight changes in stimuli leads to their wide application in water purification processes, energy generation, biomedical engineering, and catalysis. Poly (N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm)-encapsulated metal nanoparticle smart polymer catalysts have been confirmed to demonstrate tunable catalytic ability in water. The covalently pairing of an enzyme and a smart polymer material in a hydrogel influences polymer conformation and largely impacts the performance of the enzyme, in addition to causing shifts in substrate-enzyme orientations. Recently, significant exploration of smart polymer catalysts in the areas such as medical and biotechnological fields has gained much momentum. In this chapter, much focus will be given to in-depth discussions on the most common types of smart polymeric materials, their brief synthesis methods and technological applications in various fields such as water purification processes and biological systems.