Issue 43, 2021

Designing self-propagating polymers with ultrasensitivity through feedback signal amplification

Abstract

Inspired by the self-adaptive nature of living organisms, the development of stimuli-responsive polymers that can sense and respond to surrounding microenvironments has received increasing interest. To date, stimuli-responsive polymers have found promising applications in terms of smart coatings, actuators, photolithography, imaging and diagnosis, and so on. Notwithstanding significant progress, it remains a grand challenge to improve the sensitivity of stimuli-responsive polymers toward external stimuli, which is, however, highly desirable in practical applications when the input signals are very weak. To circumvent this problem, self-propagating polymers have been developed, which enable the amplification of input signals in a positive feedback manner, thereby exponentially elevating the sensitivity. In this minireview, we summarize the recent design strategies and potential applications of self-propagating polymers by integrating feedback signal amplification modules, which have shown promising applications ranging from fundamental research to industry.

Graphical abstract: Designing self-propagating polymers with ultrasensitivity through feedback signal amplification

Article information

Article type
Minireview
Submitted
05 محرم 1443
Accepted
04 ربيع الأول 1443
First published
06 ربيع الأول 1443

Polym. Chem., 2021,12, 6230-6241

Designing self-propagating polymers with ultrasensitivity through feedback signal amplification

J. Tan, J. Hu and S. Liu, Polym. Chem., 2021, 12, 6230 DOI: 10.1039/D1PY01095F

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