Self-oscillating polymer brushes.

ABSTRACT

An autonomous functional surface has been designed by using self-oscillating polymers that convert the chemical energy of the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction into conformational changes of the polymer chains (see picture red hydrophobic/collapsed, green hydrophilic/extended). Self-oscillating polymer brushes were grafted onto the inner surface of a glass capillary, and autonomous propagation of a chemical wave was observed.