The Polymer Society of Korea

정태훈 (포항공과대학교)

김연수 (포항공과대학교)

Self-oscillating gels have become a distinguished class of smart soft materials because they undergo spontaneous and cyclic swelling-deswelling changes without on-off switching of external stimuli. However, their practical applications of them are still limited due to a small change and non-directional actuation by isotropic deformation. Herein, to improve the degree of deformation, we report an unprecedented method to convert an isotropic deformation into anisotropic and unidirectional deformation of gel. As a result of introducing a three-dimensional periodic gradient structure by photopolymerization into the gel network, a helix gel could be synthesized. The helix gels exhibited amplified uniaxial winding and unwinding during the Belousov–Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction. In addition, they showed a significant change in length compared to the conventional rod gel. This presentation will discuss synthetic strategy, structure analysis, and improved self-oscillation of helix gels.