Electro-deformable polymer gels.

Electro-Optical Study of Nematic Elastomer Gels

Self-Oscillating Structural Polymer Gels

Self-oscillating polymer gel has become a distinguished class of smart soft materials. Here we fabricated and demonstrated a self-oscillating structural gel network with the incorporation of the Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction. The structural polymer gel oscillates at a macroscopic level with remarkably faster kinetics compared to a normal gel of similar chemical compositions. The structural...

A Molecular Theory of Polymer Gels

A new theory for polymer gels is developed on the basis of the single-chain mean-field (SCMF) theory. This theory takes the mesh chain or the star polymer as the characteristic unit of polymer gels, and it allows the study of chain conformation properties for gels in their different states. The preparation condition effect is conveniently described by the current theory, and the gels with compl...

Three dimensional radiation dosimetry using polymer gels

The use of polymer gels to record radiation dose distributions in three dimensions was first proposed in 1992 as a proof-of-principle [1]. The accuracy of these early polymer gel dosimeters and scanning methods was not sufficient for most clinical applications [2]. Since then, several efforts were made to increase the accuracy and precision of both the physical gel dosimeter and the scanning te...

Counting primary loops in polymer gels.

Much of our fundamental knowledge related to polymer networks is built on an assumption of ideal end-linked network structure. Real networks invariably possess topological imperfections that negatively affect mechanical properties; modifications of classical network theories have been developed to account for these defects. Despite decades of effort, there are no known experimental protocols fo...