(163bi) Mechanical Oscillating Pnipam Gel Particles

Uniform PNIPAM gel particles with covalently bound tris(bipyridyl)ruthenium(II) were synthesized via coordination chemistry between a ruthenium complex and monodispersed poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) microgel particles bearing bipyridine ligand. UV-Vis spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and confocal microscopy were employed for the characterization of the gel particles. Loading of the tris(bipyridyl)ruthenium(II) complexes and the uniformity of the particle size were confirmed. We have studied the Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction in these gel particles. Chaotic oscillating behavior has been observed.