Superhydrophobic, water repellent surfaces have attracted much attention but poor surface mechanical properties have limited their wider practical application. Robust surfaces based on nickel–tungsten carbide composite coatings have been electrodeposited. The surfaces showed superhydrophobicity after being modified by stearic acid. The maximum contact angle of water was 164.3 degrees with a sliding angle close to zero. By controlling the deposition conditions, versatile coatings have been produced and the effects of morphology on wettability are discussed. Coating texture has been analyzed by X-ray diffraction. The surfaces showed excellent abrasion resistance and water-repellence.

The multi-stimuli-responsive amphiphilic ABC triblock copolymer of poly(methyl methacrylate)-block-poly[N,N-(dimethylamino) ethyl methacrylate]-block-poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PMMA-b-PDMAEMA-b-PNIPAM) was synthesized by sequential reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerizations. Due to the pH- and thermo-responsive blocks of PDMAEMA and thermo-responsive blocks of PNIPAM, the copolymer solution properties can be manipulated by changing the parameters such as temperature and pH, and it formed diverse nanostructures and had gel behavior in different conditions. In detail, when the pH was below 7.3, the pKa of DMAEMA, tertiary amino groups were protonated, the polymer micellar solution like weak gel changed into free-standing gel at around 40 °C even at a low concentration of 2 wt%. Further, the gel behavior and morphology of the system were studied by rheology, turbidimetry measurements, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), respectively. When the pH was above the pKa, the triblock copolymer self-assembled into diverse micellar structures including shell–core, corona–shell–core and shell–shell–core nanoparticles as the temperature increased, but no free-standing gelation. The two-step thermo-responsive behavior, corresponding to the different LCSTs of PNIPAM block and DMAEMA block, was evidenced by turbidity analysis. The assembled structures rapidly collapsed due to the enhanced hydrophobic interaction when the temperature further increased. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) was used to confirm the transitions.

•A gel system based on glutaraldehyde and polyvinyl alcohol was presented.•2-Hydroxyethyl acrylate can be used as monomer for UV polymer dosimeter.•We build a relationship between UV dose and the gels' optical absorbance.•The HEA-PVA gel dosimeter has good stability、sensitivity and low diffusion.•The UV dose measurement range was 0–560 J/cm2.Acrylic monomer is known to be sensitive to ultraviolet radiation (UVR) through photoinitiator. Upon irradiation, the acrylic monomers formed stable polymer through free radical polymerization, hence its appearance will change from colorless and transparent to colored and non-transparent. Furthermore, the degree of changes was based on the UVR dose, and those optical changes could be detected by UV–vis spectrophotometer at the fixed wavelength of 550 nm. In this study, we used 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate (HEA) as acrylic monomer, which mixed with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), and finally obtained a three-dimensional hydrogel material through cross-linking by glutaraldehyde (GA). After doping with photoinitiator-Bis(2,6-difluoro-3-(1-hydropyrro-1-yl)-phenyl) titanocene (784), the gel material was sensitive to UV-A radiation (400–315 nm), which forms an important part (~ 97%) of the natural solar UV radiation reaching the earth surface. The behavior of different formulations' dose response sensitivity, detector linearity, diffusion, stability after UVA radiation were investigated. The results showed that when the dosage range of UVA radiation was 0–560 J/cm2, the gel had a great sensitivity and the linearity was found to be closed to 1. After UVA radiation, the gel also had a very good optical stability. In addition to this, when irradiated with high dose UVA, the gel could maintain a low diffusion.

Oriented side chain liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) films with thermo- and photo-mechanical properties were prepared via electron beam (EB) irradiation. A magnetic field was applied to the nematic monomers during the polymerization to obtain aligned LCEs. The effects of the crosslinker concentration in feed, delivered dose and direction of the magnetic field during the polymerization on the properties of the LCEs were studied, respectively.

Organic solvent-soluble N-maleoyl-chitosan (NMCS) was synthesized by reaction of chitosan with maleic anhydride (MAH) in N, N-dimethylformamide (DMF). N-maleoyl-chitosan-graft-poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (NMCS-g-PNIPAAm) copolymer hydrogel was prepared via free radical polymerization by electron beam (EB) irradiation. The copolymer obtained was analysed by FT-IR, XRD and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). It was found that the grafting yield and grafting efficiency increased with increasing radiation absorbed dose and monomer amount, and then decreased. The swelling ratio of the copolymer hydrogel was low at pH 4–5, and LCST of the hydrogel was around 32°C.

A β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) based monomer (MAH-β-CD) containing vinyl and carboxyl functional groups was synthesized by reaction of β-CD with maleic anhydride (MAH). A novel hydrogel, poly(AAc-co-MAH-β-CD) with pH and ionic strength sensitivities, was prepared by irradiating the aqueous solution mixture of acrylic acid (AAc) and MAH-β-CD with electron beam. The effect of the feed ratio of the components and irradiation dose on the swelling and deswelling properties of the hydrogel was studied, respectively, the effect of pH and ionic strength on the swelling ratio was determined. Experimental results showed that these copolymer hydrogels did not show any noticeable change in swelling ratio at lower pH range (pH 1–3). However they showed an abrupt increase in swelling ratio at the range of pH 3–6, due to the ionization of carboxyl groups. Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrometer was applied in the attenuated total reflectance (ATR) mode for analyzing the structure change of the hydrogels after the treatment of different pH buffer solutions.

D-(+)-glucose (Glc) was added to the original Fricke polyvinyl alcohol–glutaraldehyde–xylenol orange (FPGX) hydrogel dosimeter system to make a more stable FPGX hydrogel three-dimensional dosimeter in this paper. Polyvinyl alcohol was used as a substrate, which was combined with Fricke solution. Various concentrations of Glc were tested with linear relevant fitting for optimal hydrogel production conditions. The effects of various formulations on the stability and sensitivity of dosimeters were evaluated. The results indicated that D-(+)-Glc, as a free radical scavenger, had a great effect on stabilizing the dose response related to absorbency and reducing the auto-oxidization of ferrous ions. A careful doping with Glc could slow down the color change of the dosimeter before and after radiation without any effect on the sensitivity of the dosimeter.

A stable hydrogel 3D dosimeter was prepared by using Fricke solution, poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and glutaraldehyde (GA). A linear relationship between the dose and the UV absorbency was obtained by determining the color change of the dosimeter in the range of 0–2.5 Gy. Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) was used as a free radical scavenger to analyze the thermo-stability and diffusion of FPGX gel dosimeter systems. The results showed that increasing the DMSO concentration could slow down the color change and the Fe3+ diffusion rate in a certain range. With the addition of DMSO, the FPGX gel dosimeter was stable in the storage time before exposure to radiation.Highlights► An FPGX gel dosimeter after adding DMSO is transparent, stable and sensitive. ► DMSO could slow down the Fe3+ diffusion rate obviously. ► The gel system was stable in the storage time before irradiation. ► The dose–response presented a linear function against the absorbency at 585 nm.

Oriented side chain liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) films with thermo- and photo-mechanical properties were prepared via electron beam (EB) irradiation. A magnetic field was applied to the nematic monomers during the polymerization to obtain aligned LCEs. The effects of the crosslinker concentration in feed, delivered dose and direction of the magnetic field during the polymerization on the properties of the LCEs were studied, respectively.