Journal
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
Volume 8, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15862
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Funding
- Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan [26620164, 15H05495, 15H02198]
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science [14J02019, 16J09350]
- Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research [15H05495, 16H02277, 14J02019, 16J09350] Funding Source: KAKEN
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In the field of polymer science, many kinds of polymeric material systems that show a sol-gel transition have been created. However, most systems are unidirectional stimuli-responsive systems that require physical signals such as a change in temperature. Here, we report on the design of a block copolymer solution that undergoes autonomous and periodic sol-gel transition under constant conditions without any on-off switching through external stimuli. The amplitude of this self-oscillation of the viscosity is about 2,000 mPa s. We also demonstrate an intermittent forward motion of a droplet of the polymer solution synchronized with the autonomous sol-gel transition. This polymer solution bears the potential to become the base for a type of slime-like soft robot that can transform its shape kaleidoscopically and move autonomously, which is associated with the living amoeba that moves forward by a repeated sol-gel transition.
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