Reversible on-off switch function of ion-track pores for thermo-responsive films based on copolymers consisting of diethyleneglycol-bis-allylcarbonate and acryloyl-L-proline methyl ester

Intelligent chemical valves responding to a slight change of temperature were created by the combination of ion beam-chemical etching technique and a novel material consisting of an ion track detector material diethyleneglycol-bis-allylcarbonate (CR-39) and a thermo-responsive gel acryloyl-L-proline methyl ester (A-ProOMe). The changes in size of ion-track pores in etched films were measured microscopically by repetition between 0 and 30 degrees C at 24-h intervals for a 50 mu m thick copoly(CR-39/A-ProOMe, 60/40 mol%) film which was obtained by etching in aqueous 6M NaOH solution at 60 degrees C after an 11.6 MeV/n Pb-208 ion irradiation and, as a result, it was found that the pore size in the film obtained by etching for 10 min is reversibly changed from a perfectly closed pore at 0 degrees C to a fully opened pore with a diameter of 0.30 mu m at 30 degrees C.