Figure 1.

The temperature sensibility of PNIPAM and PM.

Notes: (A) Different solution states of P(NIPAM-co-Am) at room temperature (a) and 42°C (b). (B) The LCST detected spectrophotometrically with the solution being heated at a speed of 1°C/min. The temperature of the initial polymer solution with 90% of initial transmittance (at 460 nm) was defined as the LCST. The red curve is the transmittance curve of PNIPAM and the black curve is the transmittance curve of PM.

Abbreviations: Am, acrylamide; LCST, lower critical solution temperature; PM, copolymer of N-isopropylacrylamide and acrylamide; PNIPAM, poly(N-isopropylacrylamide).