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Reversible phase transitions in polymer gels induced by radiation forces

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Abstract

Many polymer gels undergo reversible, discontinuous volume changes in response to changes in the balance between repulsive intermolecular forces that act to expand the polymer network and attractive forces that act to shrink it. Repulsive forces are usually electrostatic or hydrophobic in nature, whereas attraction is mediated by hydrogen bonding or van der Waals interactions. The competition between these counteracting forces, and hence the gel volume1,2,3, can thus be controlled by subtle changes in parameters such as pH (ref. 4), temperature5, solvent composition6 or gel composition7. Here we describe a more direct influence on this balance of forces, by showing that the radiation force generated by a focused laser beam induces reversible shrinkage in polymer gels. Control experiments confirm that the laser-induced volume phase transitions are due to radiation forces, rather than local heating, modifying the weak interactions in the gels, in agreement with previous observations of light-induced chain association in polymer solutions8,9. We find that, owing to shear-relaxation processes10, gel shrinkage occurs up to several tens of micrometres away from the irradiation spot, raising the prospect that the combination of stimuli-responsive polymer gels and laser light might lead to new gel-based systems for applications such as actuating or sensing.

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Figure 1: The volume phase transition in gels.
Figure 2: The power dependence of gel-rod collapse.
Figure 3: Temperature dependence of the diameter of rods of doped and undoped PNIPAM gel.
Figure 4: Volume phase transition of PNIPAM gel in D2O.

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Acknowledgements

This present work was supported in part by a grant under Priority Area Research “Photoreaction Dynamics” from the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture of Japan, by a NEDO (New Energy Industrial Technology Development Organization) regional consortium project ”Development of Ultrasensitive Micro-Integrated Analysis Systems”, and by the Satellite Venture Business Laboratory of the University of Tokushima.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Satellite Venture Business Laboratory of Photonic Nano-Materials, The University of Tokushima, 2-1 Minamijyosanjima, Tokushima, 770-8506, Japan

    Saulius Juodkazis & Akira Yamaguchi

  2. Department of Ecosystem Engineering Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokushima, 2-1 Minamijyosanjima, Tokushima, 770-8506, Japan

    Naoki Mukai, Ryosuke Wakaki, Shigeki Matsuo & Hiroaki Misawa

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  1. Saulius Juodkazis
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  2. Naoki Mukai
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  3. Ryosuke Wakaki
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  4. Akira Yamaguchi
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  5. Shigeki Matsuo
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  6. Hiroaki Misawa
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Correspondence to Hiroaki Misawa.

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Juodkazis, S., Mukai, N., Wakaki, R. et al. Reversible phase transitions in polymer gels induced by radiation forces . Nature 408, 178–181 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35041522

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