Related papers: Coupling chemical networks to hydrogels controls o…
Responsive hydrogels can sense environmental stimuli and respond as actuators by expelling water and changing shape. In this article, we develop theory to demonstrate that groups of responsive hydrogels can also communicate with each other,…
We study water-in-oil emulsion droplets, running the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction, that form a new type of active matter unit. These droplets, stabilised by surfactants dispersed in the oil medium, are capable of internal chemical…
Self-oscillating gels are chemically-responsive hydrogels coupled to an oscillating chemical reaction of a stimulus solute. In response to the oscillating solute concentration field, responsive gels periodically swell and deswell, expelling…
Active materials with distinctive nonequilibrium properties have diverse materials science applications. Active systems are common in living matter, such as the filament network in the cell that is activated by molecular motors, and in…
We present an experimental system of networks of coupled non-linear chemical reactors, which we theoretically model within a reaction-diffusion framework. The networks consist of patterned arrays of diffusively coupled nanoliter-scale…
Complex network dynamics have been analyzed with models of systems of coupled switches or systems of coupled oscillators. However, many complex systems are composed of components with diverse dynamics whose interactions drive the system's…
Owing to the possibility of controlling its specific mechanical behaviors up taken by irradiated by light at particular wavelengths, the photoisomerization hydrogels have a broad range of potential applications. A theory connecting the…
According to the chemical reaction network theory, the topology of a certain class of chemical reaction networks, regardless of the kinetic details, sets a limit on the dynamical properties that a particular network can potentially admit;…
We study a model of an active gel of cross-linked semiflexible filaments with additional active linkers such as myosin II clusters. We show that the coupling of the elasticity of the semiflexible filaments to the mechanical properties of…
Robust coordination and organization in large ensembles of nonlinear oscillatory units play a vital role in a wide range of natural and engineered system. The control of self-organizing network-coupled systems has recently seen significant…
The experimental control of synergistic chemomechanical dynamics of catalytically active microgels (microreactors) is a key prerequisite for the design of adaptive and biomimetic materials. Here, we report a minimalistic model of…
We report on a synthesis protocol, experimental characterization and theoretical modeling of active pulsatile Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) hydrogels. Our two-step synthesis technique allows independent optimization of the geometry, the…
We present a generic formulation of the continuum elasticity of an isotropic crosslinked active gel. The gel is described by a two-component model consisting of an elastic network coupled frictionally to a permeating fluid. Activity is…
Evanescent coupling between a silica optical microbottle resonator and a GaAs electromechanical resonator is demonstrated. This coupling provides high optical sensitivity and efficient piezoelectric controllability of mechanical motion.…
Under suitable assumptions, the dynamic behaviour of a chemical reaction network is governed by an autonomous set of polynomial ordinary differential equations over continuous variables representing the concentrations of the reactant…
The elasticity of rubbery polymer networks has been considered to be entropy-driven. On the other hand, studies on single polymer chain mechanics have revealed that the elasticity of ultimately stretched polymer chains is dominated by the…
We propose a theory based on non-equilibrium thermodynamics to describe the mechanical behavior of an active polymer gel created by the inclusion of molecular motors in its solvent. When activated, these motors attach to the chains of the…
Oscillatory chemical reactions are functional components in a variety of biological contexts. In chemistry, the construction and identification of even rudimentary oscillators remain elusive and lack a general framework. Using…
Hybrid double-network hydrogels are a class of material that comprise transiently and permanently crosslinked polymer networks and exhibit an enhanced toughness that is believed to be governed by the yielding of the transient polymer…
Solutions of polymer chains are modelled using non-equilibrium Brownian dynamics simulations, with physically associative beads which form reversible crosslinks to establish a system-spanning physical gel network. Rheological properties…