Applications of polymeric smart materials to environmental problems.

The use of fixatives for response to a radiation dispersal devise attack – a review of the current (2009) state-of-the-art

“…First application -remote spray washers apply a wetting agent and ''Supergel'' onto the Low viscosity, partially hydrolyzed poly(vinyl alcohol) (12 wt%), poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (7 wt%) in water, a plasticizer (glycerin, 4 wt%), a chelating masking agent (0.5 wt%), and a colorimetric indicator [2-(5-bromo-2-pyridylazo)-5,5-diethylaminophenol, 3 Â 10 À3 wt%] Coating changes color when in contact with different contaminants; orange to purple for uranium and orange to red for plutonium, and can be adapted for detecting other similar radioactive materials Originally developed for decontamination work within the DOE complex and has been used on highly contaminated glove boxes at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (Hanson, 2003;Archibald et al, 1999) No value cited but reported as extremely effective at removing varying levels of both uranium and plutonium from surfaces (Gray and Bergbreiter, 1997) RADBlockÔ (Isotron Ò Corporation) Natural rubber latex, ammonia, and other ingredients (trade secret) Requires use of respirator due to ammonia (Isotron, 2007a) Available in a series of formulas with specific characteristics:…”

Thermoresponsive Cationic Polymers: PFAS Binding Performance under Variable pH, Temperature and Comonomer Composition

“…Stimuli-responsive polymers have long been an attractive option for a wide range of applications due to the transformations exhibited upon exposure to external stimuli [ 1 ]. Specifically, temperature-responsive polymers have been reported as especially useful in the fields of biomedicine [ 2 , 3 ], drug delivery [ 3 , 4 , 5 ], microfluidics [ 3 , 6 ], environmental remediation [ 7 , 8 ] and separations [ 9 ]. The unique qualities of these types of systems are many-fold but the most remarkable is a reversible phase change that occurs at a critical solution temperature in aqueous solvent.…”