0000000000286329
AUTHOR
Robert T. Mathers
Spinodal decomposition of chemically fueled polymer solutions
Out-of-equilibrium phase transitions driven by dissipation of chemical energy are a common mechanism for morphological organization and temporal programming in biology. Inspired by this, dissipative self-assembly utilizes chemical reaction networks (CRNs) that consume high-energy molecules (chemical fuels) to generate transient structures and functionality. While a wide range of chemical fuels and building blocks are now available for chemically fueled systems, so far little attention has been paid to the phase-separation process itself. Herein, we investigate the chemically fueled spinodal decomposition of poly(norbornene dicarboxylic acid) (PNDAc) solution, which is driven by a cyclic che…
Chemically Fueled Volume Phase Transition of Polyacid Microgels
Abstract Microgels are soft colloids that show responsive behavior and are easy to functionalize for applications. They are considered key components for future smart colloidal material systems. However, so far microgel systems have almost exclusively been studied in classical responsive switching settings using external triggers, while internally organized, autonomous control mechanisms as found in supramolecular chemistry and DNA nanotechnology relying on fuel‐driven out‐of‐equilibrium concepts have not been implemented into microgel systems. Here, we introduce chemically fueled transient volume phase transitions (VPTs) for poly(methacrylic acid) (PMAA) microgels, where the collapsed hydr…