Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Responsive hydrogels can sense environmental stimuli and respond as actuators by expelling water and changing shape. In this Letter, we develop theory to demonstrate that groups of responsive hydrogels can also communicate with each other, by utilizing the effect of elastic deformation on chemical reaction dynamics. Specifically, we consider a system of two spatially separated chemically responsive hydrogels suspended in a solution in which a Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ)-type reaction occurs. Solving for the gel dynamics with the transport of solvent through the poroelastic network and the chemical kinetics, we show how the periodic swelling-deswelling oscillations of each gel can become coupled, and how this coupling can be exploited to send signals from one gel to the other via mechanical manipulation of the sender that affect the local (and thus global) frequency of oscillation.
Source: Physical Review Research
DOI: 10.1103/xbvn-5b59
Institution: University of Warwick
Language: English
Subfield: Mechanical Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,625
Funder: Leverhulme Trust
Award: G4285754894
OpenAlex ID: W4414145292