{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T18:19:27Z","timestamp":1785435567022,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":38,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"13","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,1]],"date-time":"2026-07-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1782864000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100002923","name":"CONICET","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["PIBAA 0182-28820210103753CO"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PIBAA 0182-28820210103753CO"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100002923","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100002923","name":"CONICET","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["PIET-R 298 202501 00064 CO"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PIET-R 298 202501 00064 CO"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100002923","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["PIBAA 0182-28820210103753CO"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PIBAA 0182-28820210103753CO"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/03cqe8w59","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["PIET-R 298 202501 00064 CO"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PIET-R 298 202501 00064 CO"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/03cqe8w59","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100007070","name":"UNMdP","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["PI-INICIAL R.R. N\u00ba 5304\/21"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PI-INICIAL R.R. N\u00ba 5304\/21"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100007070","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003074","name":"ANPCyT","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["PICT-2021-I-INVI-00022"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PICT-2021-I-INVI-00022"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003074","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100020087","name":"Fundaci\u00f3n Williams","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100020087","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/03799m784","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Polymers"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Here, we report a facile, reproducible, fully aqueous route to fabricate citric acid\u2013crosslinked poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) composite hydrogels incorporating polyaniline nanoparticles (PANI-NP) of ca. 200 nm mean diameter and polydispersity index (PDI) below 0.2, synthesized directly in water. Nanocomposites incorporating 2, 3, and 5% w\/w PANI-NP were thoroughly characterized in terms of thickness (obtaining materials of approximately 500 \u00b5m), morphology, spectroscopic and thermal properties, surface properties, swelling behavior, and nanomechanical behavior assessed by atomic force microscopy (AFM) operating in Peak Force Quantitative Nanomechanical Mapping (PF-QNM) mode. Incorporation of PANI-NP progressively increased the elastic modulus of the composites (from 794 MPa for neat PVA to values exceeding several GPa at 3\u20135% w\/w loading) and modified swelling capacity to values as low as 140% (from 247% for neat PVA), reflecting nanoscale interfacial interactions. Notably, the hydrogel composites exhibited significant photothermal activity under low-power near-infrared (NIR) LED irradiation (850 nm, 90 mW cm\u22122), achieving temperature increases of up to 13.7 \u00b0C even at low PANI-NP loadings, with a stable and reproducible response across multiple heating\u2013cooling cycles. Overall, this work establishes a straightforward, water-based fabrication platform for structurally stable, photothermally active nanocomposites with promising potential in light-responsive smart material applications.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/polym18131638","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,1]],"date-time":"2026-07-01T16:50:33Z","timestamp":1782924633000},"page":"1638","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Photothermally Responsive Poly(vinyl alcohol)\/Polyaniline Nanoparticle Composite Hydrogels Prepared by a Facile Aqueous Route"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"18","author":[{"given":"Ernesto","family":"Battaglia","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Institute for Materials Science and Technology (INTEMA), National University of Mar del Plata (UNMdP)-National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Av. Col\u00f3n 10850, Mar del Plata 7600, Argentina"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8651-9828","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Eduart","family":"Guti\u00e9rrez-Pineda","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Cooperative Research in Biomaterials (CIC biomaGUNE), Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), Paseo Miramon 182, 20014 Donostia San Sebasti\u00e1n, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3337-1663","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"C\u00e9sar","family":"Barbero","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Institute for Energy Technologies and Advanced Materials (IITEMA), National University of Rio Cuarto (UNRC)-National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Ruta Nacional N\u00b0 36 Km 601, R\u00edo Cuarto 5800, Argentina"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7094-1031","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gustavo","family":"Abraham","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Institute for Materials Science and Technology (INTEMA), National University of Mar del Plata (UNMdP)-National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Av. Col\u00f3n 10850, Mar del Plata 7600, Argentina"},{"name":"Department of Chemical and Food Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, National University of Mar del Plata (UNMdP), Av. Juan B. Justo 4302, Mar del Plata 7600, Argentina"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sergio","family":"Moya","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Cooperative Research in Biomaterials (CIC biomaGUNE), Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), Paseo Miramon 182, 20014 Donostia San Sebasti\u00e1n, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5327-6153","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Silvestre","family":"Abel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Institute for Materials Science and Technology (INTEMA), National University of Mar del Plata (UNMdP)-National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Av. Col\u00f3n 10850, Mar del Plata 7600, Argentina"},{"name":"Department of Chemical and Food Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, National University of Mar del Plata (UNMdP), Av. Juan B. Justo 4302, Mar del Plata 7600, Argentina"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"103026","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cis.2023.103026","article-title":"Weaving the next generation of (bio) materials: Semi-interpenetrated and interpenetrated polymeric networks for biomedical applications","volume":"321","author":"Abel","year":"2023","journal-title":"Adv. Colloid Interface Sci."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"441","DOI":"10.1002\/bit.25160","article-title":"Nanocomposite hydrogels for biomedical applications","volume":"111","author":"Gaharwar","year":"2014","journal-title":"Biotechnol. 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