JSPS Japan Program: Redox Control of Conductivity in Intelligent Polymer Systems

该奖项为日本东京农业技术大学的Scott C. Paulson博士提供为期12个月的日本科学促进协会博士后奖学金（JSPS）。保尔森博士将与应用化学教授大山Noboru博士合作，进行一个名为“智能聚合物系统中电导率的氧化还原控制”的研究项目。该研究的主要目标是开发一种多用途传感器，用于水溶液中，可以检测温度、溶剂组成、离子强度和/或ph值的变化。该传感器基于用导电聚合物修饰的N烷基丙烯酰胺聚合物凝胶，其工作原理是溶剂环境的变化会产生聚合物凝胶内的体积变化。由于导电聚合物的导电性与聚合物链之间的距离有关，因此大块聚合物所表现出的任何体积变化都会直接转化为整个聚合物的导电性变化。对环境响应性聚合物凝胶的兴趣已经产生了从温度依赖的药物输送系统到光激活记忆设备的应用范围。开发这些不同的应用需要对聚合物凝胶在响应外部刺激时所表现出的体积变化有一个基本的了解。拟议的研究旨在产生这些问题的数据，以及关于体积变化如何影响改性聚合物凝胶的电化学行为的数据。* * *

Paulson 9602505 This award supports a 12 month Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Postdoctoral Fellowship (JSPS) for Dr. Scott C. Paulson at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Tokyo, Japan. Dr. Paulson will work with Dr. Noboru Oyama, Professor of Applied Chemistry, on a research project entitled, "Redox Control of Conductivity in 'Intelligent' Polymer Systems." The primary goal of the proposed research is to develop a multi-purpose sensor, for use in aqueous solutions, that can detect changes in temperature, solvent composition, ionic strength, and/or pH. The sensor is based on a N alkylacrylamide polymer gel modified with an electrically conducting polymer and works on the principle that changes in solvent environment will produce volume changes within the polymer gel. Since the conductivity of an electrically conducting polymer is related to the distance between polymer chains, any volume changes exhibited by the bulk polymer would be directly translated into a change in conductivity across the polymer. Interest in environment responsive polymer gels has generated proposed applications ranging from temperature dependent drug delivery systems to light activated memory devices. Development of these diverse applications requires a fundamental understanding of the volume changes exhibited by polymer gels in response to external stimuli. The proposed research is designed to generate data on these issues, as well as data on how volume changes affect the electrochemical behavior of modified polymer gels. * * *