Polyester textile functionalisation through incorporation of pH/thermo-responsive microgels. Part I: Microgel preparation and characterisation

► Stimuli-responsive microgels are prepared with polyelectrolyte complexes suspended. ► Responsiveness is engineered to appear within physiological pH/temperature ranges. ► The complexes complete their volume/phase transition in ca. 15 min at 40 °C. ► The higher the pH and temperature is, the more polydisperse become the microgels. ► An application scope is synthetic textile functionalisation by biopolymer microgels.