Simple Preparation and Characterization of Viscoelastic Gels Induced by Multiple Intermolecular Interactions Using Low-Molecular-Weight Species

We report simple preparation of viscoelastic gels induced by multiple intermolecular interactions using low-molecular-weight aromatic sulfonates and alkylammoniums in water. The flow properties of the gels could be controlled between viscoelastic gel to high-viscosity liquid by changing the number of sulfonates and the length of alkyl chain among the components. Rheology evaluations of these viscoelastic materials showed significant differences of G' and G '' depending on the components. Also, spin lattice relaxation, T-1 in swollen-resin magic angle spinning C-13 NMR well supported the differences of the viscoelastic gels in "hardness" according to the strength of hydrophobic interactions and pi-pi interactions contributed to the hydrogelation by alkyl chains and aromatic rings, respectively. Furthermore, we demonstrated a possibility for self-healing of a viscoelastic gel prepared with sodium 1,3,6-naphthalene trisulfonate and hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide.