(121e) Mechanical Oscillation of Pnipam Gel Particles Induced by Belousov-Zhabotinski Reaction

Uniform PNIPAM gel particles with covalently bound tris(bipyridyl)ruthenium(II) were synthesized via coordination chemistry between a ruthenium complex and the monodispersed poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) microgel particles bearing bipyridine ligand. UV-Vis spectroscopy and confocal microscopy were employed to confirm the loading of the tris(bipyridyl)ruthenium(II) complexes and the uniformity of the particle size. Periodic mechanical oscillations induced by BZ reactions were observed in these PNIPAM gel particles. A systematic study was conducted to investigate the effect of BZ substrate concentrations on the oscillation behaviors.