Oscillating chemical reactions enable communication between responsive hydrogels

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how oscillating chemical reactions in responsive hydrogels can enable communication between spatially separated gels through elastic deformation affecting reaction dynamics.

Contribution

The study introduces a theoretical framework showing that chemically responsive hydrogels can communicate via elastic deformation influencing oscillatory chemical reactions.

Findings

Hydrogels exhibit coupled oscillations through elastic deformation.

Mechanical manipulation can modulate oscillation frequency.

Communication between gels is achievable via chemical-mechanical coupling.

Abstract

Responsive hydrogels can sense environmental stimuli and respond as actuators by expelling water and changing shape. In this article, we develop theory to demonstrate that groups of responsive hydrogels can also communicate with each other, by utilising 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.