Department of Materials Engineering, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Japan.
Adv Mater. 2010 Aug 17;22(31):3463-83. doi: 10.1002/adma.200904075.
So far stimuli-responsive polymer gels and their application to smart materials have been widely studied; this research has contributed to progress in gel science and engineering. For their development as a novel biomimetic polymer, studies of polymers with an autonomous self-oscillating function have been carried out since the first reports in 1996. The development of novel self-oscillating polymers and gels have been successful utilizing the oscillating reaction, called the Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction, which is recognized as a chemical model for understanding several autonomous phenomena in biological systems. The self-oscillating polymer is composed of a poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) network in which the catalyst for the BZ reaction is covalently immobilized. In the presence of the reactants, the polymer undergoes spontaneous cyclic soluble-insoluble changes or swelling-deswelling changes (in the case of gel) without any on-off switching of external stimuli. Potential applications of the self-socillating polymers and gels include several kinds of functional material systems, such as biomimetic actuators and mass transport surface.
迄今为止，刺激响应聚合物凝胶及其在智能材料中的应用已经得到了广泛的研究；这项研究推动了凝胶科学和工程的发展。自 1996 年首次报道以来，人们一直在研究具有自主自激功能的聚合物，将其开发为新型仿生聚合物。利用被称为贝洛索夫-扎鲍廷斯基（Belousov-Zhabotinsky，BZ）反应的振荡反应，成功地开发了新型自激聚合物和凝胶，该反应被认为是理解生物系统中几种自主现象的化学模型。自激聚合物由聚（N-异丙基丙烯酰胺）网络组成，其中 BZ 反应的催化剂通过共价键固定。在反应物存在的情况下，聚合物在没有外部刺激的开/关切换的情况下，自发地经历循环的可溶性-不溶性变化或溶胀-收缩变化（在凝胶的情况下）。自激聚合物和凝胶的潜在应用包括几种功能材料系统，例如仿生致动器和质量传输表面。
