Influence of Initial Substrate Concentration of the Belouzov-Zhabotinsky Reaction on Transmittance Self-Oscillation for a Nonthermoresponsive Polymer Chain

We succeeded in causing transmittance self-oscillations of a novel self-oscillating polymer chain induced by the Belouzov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction under constant conditions. The novel polymer chain was composed of a biocompatible and non-thermoresponsive poly-vinylpyrrolidone (PVP) main-chain, covalently-bonded to the ruthenium catalyst (Ru(bpy)3) of the BZ reaction. We investigated the influence of initial substrate concentrations of the three BZ substrates on the transmittance self-oscillation of the novel polymer solution. As a result, we demonstrated that the width of the transmittance self-oscillation is significantly affected by these initial concentrations. However, the amplitude of the transmittance self-oscillation is hardly affected by the BZ substrate conditions. Furthermore, the period of the self-oscillation has a good linear relationship to the concentration of the BZ substrates. Therefore, the period of the self-oscillation can be controlled by the selection of the initial concentrations of the BZ substrates.