Stimuli Sensitive Polymer Materials For Signal Transduction

Abstract

Smart materials are materials that are capable of responding in a programmable and predictive manner. Such materials respond to a broad variety of internal and external triggers and modulate one or more material properties accordingly. Common material responses are controlled release, color changes, morphological changes or changing the mechanical properties of the bulk material. Well known examples of smart materials in our life are chromoactive materials in sunglasses or windows that change color or transparency when subjected to (sun)light, self-healing concrete and plastics or shape memory materials being responsive to heat. Smart materials often reside in a stationary phase, where built-in molecular functionality can respond autonomously to a changing environment. A material’s response can be triggered by many different stimuli having a chemical nature (e.g. pH, salts and metals), biochemical nature (e.g. peptides, nucleic acids, metabolites and polysaccharides) or a physical nature (e.g. temperature, light, magnetic field and pressure). Materials constructed from polymers, particles or gels can be used for applications such as self-healing, sensing, tissue engineering and drug delivery. Smart materials described in this thesis are designed to respond to signaling molecules, UV light, gamma-radiation or mechanical force. In the following subsections these triggers will be discussed in detail.