Multiblock copolymers exhibiting spatio-temporal structure with autonomous viscosity oscillation.
Here we report an ABA triblock copolymer that can express microscopic autonomous formation and break-up of aggregates under constant condition to generate macroscopic viscoelastic self-oscillation of the solution. The ABA triblock copolymer is designed to have hydrophilic B segment and self-oscillating A segment at the both sides by RAFT copolymerization. In the A segment, a metal catalyst of chemical oscillatory reaction, i.e., the Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction, is introduced as a chemomechanical transducer to change the aggregation state of the polymer depending on the redox states. Time-resolved DLS measurements of the ABA triblock copolymer confirm the presence of a transitional network structure of micelle aggregations in the reduced state and a unimer structure in the oxidized state. This autonomous oscillation of a well-designed triblock copolymer enables dynamic biomimetic softmaterials with spatio-temporal structure.
Department of Materials Engineering, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan.
Michika
M
Onoda
Department of Materials Engineering, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan.
Takeshi
T
Ueki
Institute for Solid State Physics, The University of Tokyo, 5-1-5 Kashiwano-ha, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8581, Japan.
Mitsuhiro
M
Shibayama
Department of Materials Engineering, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan.
Ryo
R
Yoshida