Structural investigation of various nanogels by contrast variation small-angle neutron scattering method

Sekine, Yurina   ; Endo, Hitoshi*; Akiyoshi, Kazunari*

Hydrogel nano-particles (nanogels) show characteristic properties of both hydrogels and nano-particles and are attracting growing interest in the fields of material science and nanotechnology. Although the spatial distribution of cross-linking points in the nanogels would be highly related to their properties, no clear nanoscopic information has been obtained due to the complex structure with the multi components. We have been studied about the detailed internal structure of a nanogel formed by self-association of cholesterol-bearing pullulans (CHP) by using contrast variation small-angle neutron scattering (CV-SANS). In this presentation, I will discuss the detailed structure of nanogels and the dependence of the chemical components on the structure.