Structure and Properties of Smart Micro‐ and Nanogels Determined by (Neutron) Scattering Methods

Meanwhile for more than three decades smart micro- and nanogels are studied and the number of publications in this area of research is steadily growing. This year to date (May 2021) already more than 400 articles were published on this topic. In the study of such colloidal gels, the most important techniques besides microscopy are scattering techniques. In the present chapter, an introduction to these nondestructive techniques and their application to smart micro- and nanogels will be given, and besides some fundamental works on this topic, the most recent studies in this context will be discussed. We put a focus on multi-compartment and multi-stimuli-responsive microgels and review time-resolved small-angle scattering experiments. In addition, one section is devoted to the study of crowded microgel systems.