Abstract
Tetra-PEG gels are classified to near-“ideal” networks with significantly low inhomogeneities, which were confirmed by small-angle neutron scattering (SANS). In this study, we systematically introduced two types of defects into Tetra-PEG gels and investigated effects of defects on structure. First, we prepared defect-rich networks by simply reducing prepolymer concentration, and observed the evolution of network structure by time-resolved SANS during gelation process. In this case, both the scattering intensity and the correlation length increased with reaction time in the ϕ ϕ* region. Here, ϕ and ϕ* are the polymer volume fractions at observation and that at chain-overlap concentration, respectively. Second, we prepared “p-tuned” Tetra-PEG gels by tuning the reaction probability, p, and soaked them in water to expose the inhomogeneities. It was revealed that SANS profiles of as-prepared gels did not change noticeably, while those of swollen gels systema...
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