Phase transitions in bio-gels: towards structure/properties control of bio-aerogels and of responsive biomaterials – Bio-Gel

Synthetic polymer gels are known as «intelligent» materials able to undergo conformation changes in response to external inputs. In the view of transition to bio-based economy, we want to replace petrol-based gels by bio-based ones and suggest new applications. The goal of this project is two-fold: i) to provide a fundamental understanding of bio-gels’ phase transitions in non-solvents and ii) to use this knowledge for the development of bio-aerogels and of bio-gel based sensors. Bio-aerogels are nanostructured ultralight networks with high specific surface area. They are made from a gel followed by solvent exchange and drying with supercritical CO2. Solvent exchange is a key step controlling formation of bio-aerogel structure. For making stimuli-responsive bio-gels, high sensitivity towards changes in solvent/non-solvent composition is required. Thermodynamics and kinetics of bio-gel behaviour in a non-solvent will be studied experimentally and quantified with thermodynamic methods.