A doctoral candidate in the Krystyn J. Van Vliet’s lab, Irene Chou Chen investigates how the changes in shape and size of self-oscillating gels have influence on the materials’ behavior.
Self-oscillating gels
Without any aggravation from an external stimulus self-oscillating gels change between various states including size, color and shape. In 1950, it was discovered that the Belousov-Zhabotinsky chemical reaction is the cause for such changes. The chemical reaction produces wave patterns that induce the material to expand and contract.
MIT scientists show that creation of wave patterns within the gel can be controlled by altering the shape or size of the material. They demonstrate that when the chemical reaction is restricted to a gel of sub-millimeter size, the material generates self-sustained oscillations making it to mechanically expand and contract. These oscillations representing chemomechanical coupling lasts for several hours. Thus, the material changes by itself without any peripheral influence.
Self-sustained oscillations of the gel could lead to practical applications such as an actuator and an environmental sensor that would react to specific stimulations. MIT research team uses computer simulations developed by the scientists at University of Pittsburgh. These simulations could aid in easier implementation of such applications. The new study of MIT researchers will be featured in the journal, “Soft Matter.”