title: Self-oscillations in chemoresponsive gels: a theoretical approach.
abstract: Some gels can swell or shrink in function of the concentration of the solutes contained in the solvent. We develop and discuss an algorithm based on Stefan-Maxwell equations to study the dynamics of a sphere of chemoresponsive gel immersed in a medium kept far from equilibrium. We show that the coupling of the reaction with these volume changes creates some feedback that can lead to chemomechanical instabilities. As a result, a reaction that is not oscillatory in homogeneous conditions or in a nonresponsive gel can induce self-oscillations of volume and concentrations in a responsive gel. We also show that chemical oscillations related to long range activation can be strongly modified in such gels, even when the changes of volume are small.
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherche Paul Pascal (CNRS), av. Schweitzer, F-33600 Pessac, France.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Boissonade