Synthesis of thermo-responsive polymer gels composed of star-shaped block copolymers by copper-catalyzed living radical polymerization and click reaction.

In recent times, there has been a significant surge in research interest surrounding thermo-responsive water-soluble polyacrylamides, primarily due to their intriguing capability to undergo significant solubility changes in water. These polymers exhibit the remarkable ability to shift from a soluble to an insoluble state in response to temperature variations. The capacity of these polymers to dynamically respond to temperature changes opens up exciting avenues for designing smart materials with tunable properties, amplifying their utility across a spectrum of scientific and technological applications. Researchers have been particularly captivated by the potential applications of thermo-responsive water-soluble polyacrylamides in diverse fields such as drug delivery, gene carriers, tissue engineering, sensors, catalysis, and chromatography separation. This study reports the construction and functionalization of polymer gels consisting of a polymer network of polyacrylamide derivatives with nano-sized structural units. Specifically, thermo-responsive polymer gels were synthesized by combining well-defined star-shaped polymers composed of polyacrylamide derivatives with a multifunctional initiator and linking method through a self-accelerating click reaction. The polymerization system employed a highly living approach, resulting in polymer chains characterized by narrow molecular weight distributions. The method's high functionality facilitated the synthesis of a temperature-responsive block copolymer gel composed of N-isopropyl acrylamide (NIPA) and N-ethyl acrylamide (NEAA). The resulting polymer gel, comprising star-shaped block copolymers of NIPA and NEAA, showcases smooth volume changes with temperature jumps.

This approach's versatility was showcased by creating networks using widely-used vinyl polymers. It can generate various functional and nearly ideal gels and elastomers, allowing for investigating fundamental aspects of polymer networks.

Optically Transparent and Color-Stable Elastomer with Structural Coloration under Elongation.

Optically transparent and colored elastomers with high toughness are expected to play an important role in the construction of advanced medical materials, wearable displays, and soft robots. In this study, we found that composite elastomers consisting of amorphous SiO2 particles homogeneously dispersed in high concentrations within a biocompatible acrylic polymer network exhibit optical transparency and bright structural colors. In the composite elastomers, the system in which the SiO2 particles form a colloidal amorphous array hardly changes its structural color hue despite deformation due to elongation. Furthermore, the composite elastomer of the SiO2 particles with the acrylic polymer network also results in high mechanical toughness. In summary, we have shown that the elastomer that exhibits fade-resistant structural coloration formed from safe materials can combine stable coloration and mechanical strength independent of their shape. This is expected to have new potential in future technologies to support our daily life.

Controlling the dynamics of elastomer networks with multivalent brush architectures.

Herein, we report a design strategy for developing mechanically enhanced and dynamic polymer networks by incorporating a polymer with multivalent brush architecture. Different ratios of two types of imidazole functionalized polymers, specifically poly(n-butyl acrylate) (PnBA) and poly(poly(n-butyl acrylate)) (PPnBA) were blended with Zn(II) ions, thereby forming a series of elastomers with consistent composition but varying network topologies. As the weight fraction of PPnBA increased, the melting temperature, plateau modulus, and relaxation time of the melt increased because of the increase in the crosslinking density and coordination efficiency. Remarkably, however, the activation energy of the flow, Ea, decreased with increasing amounts of PPnBA despite the observed increases in mechanical properties. This unique behavior is attributed to the multivalent nature of the brush polymer, which allows the PPnBA to generate a higher crosslinking density than networks of linear PnBA, even though the brush polymers contain a lower weight fraction of the imidazole crosslinks. This method of lowering Ea, while improving the mechanical properties of the elastomers has great potential in the development of various soft materials such as self-healing or 3D-printable elastomeric structures.

Shrinking rates of polymer gels composed of star-shaped polymers of N-isopropylacrylamide and dimethylacrylamide copolymers: the effect of dimethylacrylamide on the crosslinking network.

Thermoresponsive polymer gels can be applied as culture beds for cell sheets, drug release agents for drug delivery, and sensing materials. In general, the shrinkage behavior of thermoresponsive polymer gels is complex, and they may require much longer times than swelling to reach thermodynamically stable shrinkage states. This slow volume change during shrinkage is often a drawback in using reversible changes in polymer gel volumes with changing temperature for applications such as those described above, and attempts have been made to improve the shrinkage rates of polymer gels. However, using the conventional method results in a low density of the three-dimensional crosslinked network comprising the polymer gel, which weakens the mechanical properties of the polymer gel. In this study, we investigated the effects of monomer arrangement and composition for star-shaped polymers composed of N-isopropylacrylamide and N,N-dimethylacrylamide on the shrinkage behavior of gels comprising star-shaped polymers with the aim of increasing their shrinkage rates without reducing the network densities of the temperature-responsive polymer gels. Based on selective network decomposition by methanolysis and SAXS measurements, the network structures of the obtained spherical gels were found to be more homogeneous than those of polymer gels obtained by conventional free radical polymerization. These gels exhibited reversible volume changes in water, with low-temperature swelling and high-temperature shrinkage. The rates of volume changes from a high temperature shrunken state to a low temperature swollen one were almost the same for all gels. However, the rates of volume changes from low-temperature swollen states to high-temperature shrunken states varied greatly depending on the compositions and sequences of monomers that made up the polymer networks. We confirmed that the introduction of more than 20% DMA as a block copolymer in the network suppressed phase separation and formation of a skin layer and the water inside the polymer gel drained smoothly to the outside, which resulted in an increase in the shrinkage speed.

Improvement of mechanical properties of elastic materials by chemical methods.

Elastomers such as gels and rubbers play various roles in our lives. Elastomers, which guarantee the safety of airplanes and automobiles and the stability of buildings, are materials that have made the lives of people in the twentieth century extremely convenient. The existence of macromolecules, that is, giant molecules, has been clarified; the development of synthetic macromolecules has progressed; and understanding of elastomers has progressed. By introducing new ideas, it has become possible to obtain tough and hard elastomers, which was difficult under conventional ideas. In this paper, we will explain the development from the classical theory of elastomers to current efforts.

Morphologically Diverse Micro- and Macrostructures Created via Solvent Evaporation-Induced Assembly of Fluorescent Spherical Particles in the Presence of Polyethylene Glycol Derivatives.

The creation of fluorescent micro- and macrostructures with the desired morphologies and sizes is of considerable importance due to their intrinsic functions and performance. However, it is still challenging to modulate the morphology of fluorescent organic materials and to obtain insight into the factors governing the morphological evolution. We present a facile bottom-up approach to constructing diverse micro- and macrostructures by connecting fluorescent spherical particles (SPs), which are generated via the spherical assembly of photoisomerizable azobenzene-based propeller-shaped chromophores, only with the help of commercially available polyethylene glycol (PEG) derivatives. Without any extra additives, solvent evaporation created a slow morphological evolution of the SPs from short linear chains (with a length of a few micrometers) to larger, interconnected networks and sheet structures (ranging from tens to >100 µm) at the air-liquid interface. Their morphologies and sizes were significantly dependent on the fraction and length of the PEG. Our experimental results suggest that noncovalent interactions (such as hydrophobic forces and hydrogen bonding) between the amphiphilic PEG chains and the relatively hydrophobic SPs were weak in aqueous solutions, but play a crucial role in creating the morphologically diverse micro- and macrostructures. Moreover, short-term irradiation with visible light caused fast morphological crumpling and fluorescence switching of the obtained structures.

Optical Characterization of the Photonic Ball as a Structurally Colored Pigment.

A photonic ball is a spherical colloidal crystal. Because it can exhibit vivid structural colors, many attempts have been made to apply it as a structurally colored pigment. However, the optical properties of the photonic ball are complicated because different crystal planes can be involved in the coloration mechanism, depending on the size of the constituent colloidal particles. In this paper, we report a comparative study of photonic balls consisting of silica particles with sizes ranging from 220 to 500 nm. We first analyze the reflectance spectra acquired in a nearly backscattering geometry and confirm that Bragg diffraction from different crystal planes causes several spectral peaks. Second, the angular dependence of reflection is experimentally characterized and theoretically analyzed with appropriate models. These analyses and a comparison with a planar colloidal crystal reveal that the spherical shape plays an essential role in the minor iridescence of photonic balls. We finally discuss a method to enhance color saturation by incorporating small light-absorbing particles. We also discuss the iridescence of the photonic ball under directional and ambient illumination conditions.

Characterization of Colloidal Amorphous Arrays Prepared by Uniaxial Pressure Application.

We prepared a colloidal amorphous array by applying uniaxial pressure to a powder of monodispersed colloidal silica particles. Pellet-shaped samples were obtained that exhibit different structural colors depending on the diameter of the particles. We characterized the optical properties of the arrays by measuring the angle-dependent scattering spectrum wherein several spectral peaks were observed. The peak at the longest wavelength was caused by the short-range order of the particle arrangement. Interestingly, this peak exhibited a smaller shift in wavelength than that observed in similar samples prepared by several different methods. The other spectral peaks were thought to originate from Mie scattering, which produces a color when the diameter of the colloidal particles is appropriately chosen. Our results showed that uniaxial pressure application can be a suitable method to prepare structurally colored pigments with low angle dependence.

Bioinspired Color Materials Combining Structural, Dye, and Background Colors.

Human beings have developed many dyes and pigments and use them for printed and display materials to share information. Today's information society is not possible without these color materials. Some living organisms utilize body color for information exchange and protection by skilfully combining dye, structural, and background colors to realize a body color change based on circumstances. In this study, inspired by the extraordinary body color changes of living things, a composite color material combining photochromic dyes, a black substance, a spherical colloidal crystal exhibiting a structural color, and a background color is prepared. In addition to combining a dye color and a structural color that changes upon light irradiation, the contribution of the different effects of the background color on each coloring property allows the construction of a color material that can reversibly change into various colors under different conditions.

Structural Coloration of a Colloidal Amorphous Array is Intensified by Carbon Nanolayers.

In this study, we introduce the possibility of applying a colloidal amorphous array composed of fine silica particles as a structural-color material to invisible information technology. The appearance of a thick filmlike colloidal amorphous array formed from fine silica particles is considerably influenced by incoherent light scattering across the entire visible region. Therefore, regardless of the diameter of the fine silica particles, the thick colloidal amorphous array exhibits a white color to the naked eye. When carbon is uniformly deposited in the colloidal amorphous array by a pressure-pulsed chemical vapor deposition method, incoherent light scattering in the colloidal amorphous array is suppressed. As a result, coherent light scattering due to the short-range order in the colloidal amorphous array becomes conspicuous and the array exhibits a vivid structural color. As structures, such as letters and pictures, can be drawn using this technology, the colloidal amorphous array as a structural-colored material may also be applicable for invisible information technology.

Thermally Tunable Hydrogels Displaying Angle-Independent Structural Colors.

We report the preparation of thermally tunable hydrogels displaying angle-independent structural colors. The porous structures were formed with short-range order using colloidal amorphous array templates and a small amount of carbon black (CB). The resultant porous hydrogels prepared using colloidal amorphous arrays without CB appeared white, whereas the hydrogels with CB revealed bright structural colors. The brightly colored hydrogels rapidly changed hues in a reversible manner, and the hues varied widely depending on the water temperature. Moreover, the structural colors were angle-independent under diffusive lighting because of the isotropic nanostructure generated from the colloidal amorphous arrays.

Production of colourful pigments consisting of amorphous arrays of silica particles.

It is desirable to produce colourful pigments that have anti-fading properties and are environmentally friendly. In this Concept, we describe recently developed pigments that exhibit such characteristics. The pigments consist of amorphous arrays of submicron silica particles, and they exhibit saturated and angle-independent structural colours. Variously coloured pigments can be produced by changing the size of the particles, and the saturation of the colour can be controlled by incorporating small amounts of black particles. We review a simple analysis that is useful for interpreting the angular independence of the structural colours and discuss the remaining tasks that must be accomplished for the realistic application of these pigments.

Circularly Polarized Luminescence Chirality Inversion and Dual Anticounterfeiting Labels Based on Fluorescent Cholesteric Liquid Crystal Particles.

The development of materials with circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) properties is a promising but challenging frontier in advanced materials science. Modulating the chiral properties of chiral polymers has also been a focus of research. Studies have been conducted to control the ground-state chirality of chiral polymers by adjusting the concentration of the chiral dopant. However, the chirality inversion of CPL of fluorescent liquid crystal particles by chiral dopant concentration has not been reported. Here, we report the preparation of fluorescent cholesteric liquid crystal (FCLC) particles that display polarizable structural color and CPL, demonstrating how varying the chiral dopant amount can reverse the CPL direction, leading to systems where the rotation directions of polarizable structural color and CPL either align or differ. This study confirmed the critical role played by the formation of the twist grain boundary phase in inducing the inversion of the ground-state chirality of FCLC particles and, subsequently, triggering the inversion process of CPL chirality. Furthermore, it leverages chiral structural color and fluorescence of FCLC particles to develop a sophisticated dual verification system. This system, utilizing both circularly polarized light and fluorescence, offers enhanced anticounterfeiting protection for high-value items.

Understanding the Electrophoretic Deposition Accompanied by Electrochemical Reactions Toward Structurally Colored Bilayer Films.

Safe, low-cost structurally colored materials are alternative colorants to toxic inorganic pigments and organic dyes. Colloidal amorphous arrays are promising structurally colored materials because of their angle-independent colors. In this study, we focused on precise tuning of the chromaticity by preparing bilayer colloidal amorphous arrays through electrophoretic deposition (EPD). Systematic investigations with various EPD conditions clarified the contributions of each condition to the EPD process and the competing electrochemical reactions, which enabled us to prepare well-colored coatings. EPD films composed of colloidal amorphous array bilayers were successfully synthesized with controlled film thickness. Chromaticity of the films was found to be precisely controlled by the EPD duration. We believe that this understanding of the EPD process and its application to synthesis of structurally colored bilayer films will bring structurally colored materials closer to practical industrial use.

High Heat Resistance of the Structural Coloration of Colloidal Arrays with Inorganic Black Additives.

Structurally colored materials consisting of arrays of submicrometer-sized particles have drawn a great deal of attention because of their advantages, including low cost, low impact on human health as well as the environment, and resistance to fading. However, their low thermal stability is considered to be a critical issue for their practical use as colorants. Black-colored substances that can absorb the white color are added to colloidal array-type structurally colored materials to enhance their chromaticity. The poor thermal stability of commonly used black coloring additives, carbon black and Fe3O4 nanoparticles, is a main factor that reduces the heat resistance of structural coloration. Here, we demonstrate the preparation of structurally colored materials with extraordinarily high heat resistance of coloration, up to 900 °C. Several metal oxides, i.e., calcium manganese-based oxide (CCMO), chromium-iron-cobalt-nickel oxide (CFCNO), and lanthanum manganite (LMO), are synthesized and employed as black additives for structurally colored coatings prepared by the electrophoretic deposition of spherical silica particles. When CCMO is used as a black additive, the coloration heat resistance of the film is stable up to 700 °C. On the other hand, the films maintain vivid structural colors after exposure to 900 °C temperatures when CFCNO and LMO are employed as black additives. On the basis of this finding, high heat resistance of structural colors requires both heat resistance of the black additives and nonreactivity with the components of the spherical particles used for colloidal arrays.

Bioinspired Color Elastomers Combining Structural, Dye, and Background Colors.

Organisms that alter body color undergo color change in response to environmental variations and stimuli by combining chromatophores that develop colors by various mechanisms. Inspired by their body color changes, we can develop sensors and optical materials that change colors in response to multiple stimuli, such as mechanical and light stimuli. In this study, we report on bioinspired composite elastomers that exhibit various color changes as the pigment color, structural color, and background color change. These composite elastomers exhibit structural colors due to their fine structures in which fine silica particles form colloidal crystals, and the structural colors reversibly change as the elastomers elongate. Furthermore, photochromic dyes can reversibly change color depending on the wavelength of irradiated light when they are introduced to the composite elastomers. Since the structural color is one of the three primary colors of light and the pigment color is the color that corresponds to the three primary colors of a pigment, each color becomes vivid when the background color is black or white. Thus, we clarify that the composite elastomers exhibit various color changes due to the combination of structural color change in response to the mechanical stimulus, pigment color change in response to light irradiation, and background color change.

Stimuli-Responsive Structural Colored Gel That Exhibits the Three Primary Colors of Light by Using Multiple Photonic Band Gaps Acquired from Photonic Balls.

A material that can capture changes in environmental stimuli as a color change can be used to develop sensors and displays. By producing an ordered structure in a polymer gel that reflects particular wavelengths of light, we can express the volume change that occurs based on the environment as the change in the wavelength of reflected light, i.e., structural color. To date, many systems have been developed to change the hue of the structural color as a function of temperature, pH, substance, applied force, and so on. However, as is expected from the principle of optical interference, the gel usually shows a red-shift with increasing volume. In this study, we propose a method for preparing structurally colored stimuli-responsive polymer gels that display appropriate color changes according to changes in environmental stimuli. For this purpose, we employ the photonic balls, which are spherical colloidal crystals consisting of monodisperse silica particles, as templates. By combining the wavelength-selective reflection generated from different photonic band gaps of the photonic balls, we succeeded in developing porous stimuli-responsive polymer gels that exhibited various types of color change, which are not observed in conventional systems.

Tough and Three-Dimensional-Printable Poly(2-methoxyethyl acrylate)-Silica Composite Elastomer with Antiplatelet Adhesion Property.

Poly(2-methoxyethyl acrylate) (PMEA) has attracted attention as a biocompatible polymer that is used as an antithrombotic coating agent for medical devices, such as during artificial heart and lung fabrication. However, PMEA is a viscous liquid polymer with low Tg, and its physical strength is poor even if a cross-linker is used, so it is difficult to make tough and freestanding objects from it. Here, we design and fabricate a biocompatible elastomer made of tough, self-supporting PMEA-silica composites. The toughness of the composite elastomer increases as a function of silica particle filling, and its stress at break is improved from 0.3 to 6.7 MPa. The fracture energy of the composite elastomer with 39.5 vol % silica particles is up to 15 times higher than that of the cross-linked PMEA with no silica particles and the material demonstrates stress-strain behavior that is similar to that of biological soft tissue, which exhibits nonlinear elasticity. In addition, the composite elastomer shows the potential to be an antithrombotic property, while the results of the platelet adhesion test of the composite elastomer show that the number of adhered platelets is not significantly affected by the silica addition. As the composite elastomer can be rapidly three-dimensional-printed into complex geometries with high-resolution features, it is expected to contribute to the development of medical devices from readily available materials.

Robust Structurally Colored Coatings Composed of Colloidal Arrays Prepared by the Cathodic Electrophoretic Deposition Method with Metal Cation Additives.

Structurally colored coatings composed of colloidal arrays of monodisperse spherical particles have attracted great attention owing to their versatile advantages, such as low cost, resistance to fading, and low impacts on the environment and human health. However, the weak mechanical stability is considered to be a major obstacle for their practical applications as colorants. Although several approaches based on the addition of polymer additives to enhance the adhesion of particles have been reported, the challenge remains to develop a strategy for the preparation of structurally colored coatings with extremely high robustness using a simple process. Here, we have developed a novel approach to fabricate robust structurally colored coatings by cathodic electrophoretic deposition. The addition of a metal salt, i.e., Mg(NO3)2, to the coating dispersion allows SiO2 particles to have a positive charge, which enables the electrophoresis of SiO2 particles toward the cathode. At the cathode, Mg(OH)2 codeposits with SiO2 particles because OH- ions are generated by the decomposition of dissolved oxygen and NO3- ions. The mechanical stability of the colloidal arrays obtained by this process is remarkably improved because Mg(OH)2 facilitates the adhesion of the particles and substrates. The brilliant structural color is maintained even after several cycles of the sandpaper abrasion test. We have also demonstrated the coating on a stainless steel fork. This demonstration reveals that our approach enables a homogeneous coating on a complicated surface. Furthermore, the high durability of the coating is clarified because the coating did not peel off even when the fork was stuck into a plastic eraser. Therefore, the coating technique developed here will provide an effective method for the pervasive application of the structural color as a colorant.