Post-Self-Assembly Cross-Linking to Integrate Molecular Nanofibers with Copolymers in Oscillatory Hydrogels

Abstract

We study the use of post-self-assembly crosslinking to combine molecular nanofibers of hydrogelators with copolymers to generate oscillatory materials using the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction. The formation of nanofibers from designed hydrogelators provides multiple polymerizable sites for copolymerizing with N-isopropylacrylamide and for attaching a catalytic ruthenium bipyridine complex on the copolymer. The combination of supramolecular self-assembly with copolymerization offers a versatile and facile approach for generating soft materials that have large pores in the gel network and robust mechanical integrity. These larger pores facilitate the diffusion of the reactants and accelerate the chemical oscillation by about a factor of 4 relative to a poly(NIPAAm-Ru) gel that contains no molecular nanofibers.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 09, 2013
Accession Number
ADA608596

Entities

People

  • Bing Xu
  • Irving R. Epstein
  • Junfeng Shi
  • Ning Zhou
  • Rong Zhou
  • Ye Zhang

Organizations

  • Brandeis University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Catalysts
  • Chemical Kinetics
  • Chemical Reactions
  • Chemical Synthesis
  • Chemistry
  • Copolymerization
  • Copolymers
  • Diffusion
  • Films
  • Materials
  • Molecular Structure
  • Molecules
  • Physical Chemistry
  • Polymerization
  • Polymers
  • Self Assembly
  • Thin Films

Fields of Study

  • Chemistry

Readers

  • Nanocomposite Materials Science
  • Polymer Science and Technology

Technology Areas

  • Biotechnology
  • Microelectronics