Abstract
Multifunctional thermo-responsive and degradable microparticles exhibiting a shape-memory effect (SME) have attracted widespread interest in biomedicine as switchable delivery vehicles or microactuators. In this work almost spherical solid microparticles with an average diameter of 3.9 ± 0.9 μm are prepared via electrospraying of a copolyetheresterurethane named PDC, which is composed of crystallizable oligo(p-dioxanone) (OPDO) hard and oligo(ε-caprolactone) (OCL) switching segments. The PDC microparticles are programmed via compression at different pressures and their shape-memory capability is explored by off-line and online heating experiments. When a low programming pressure of 0.2 MPa is applied a pronounced thermally-induced shape-memory effect is achieved with a shape recovery ratio about 80%, while a high programming pressure of 100 MPa resulted in a weak shape-memory performance. Finally, it is demonstrated that an array of PDC microparticles deposited on a polypropylene (PP) substrate can be successfully programmed into a smart temporary film, which disintegrates upon heating to 60 °C.
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