Electrical response of polymers in solution

Incorporation of flexible siloxane spacers into side chain or main chain liquid crystalline polymers have been shown to drastically reduce the transition temperatures 255,267,271,272,277) anc[ aiso increase the response time of the resultant systems to the applied thermal, optical or electrical fields 350-353>. In addition, siloxanes also provided elastomeric properties and improved the processibility (solution or melt) of the resulting liquid crystalline copolymers. 

To investigate heparin release in response to an electric current, the swollen heparin-polymer matrix was attached to a woven platinum cathode in a continuously stirred PBS solution (pH 7.4), and an electric current of 20 mA was applied. When the electric current was on, the polymer surface facing the cathode dissolved, thereby releasing heparin. The amount of heparin released was assayed by the Azure II method at pH 11 to prevent complexation of the two dissolved polymers. The release pattern of heparin showed a complete on-off profile in response to the applied electric field, as shown in Figure 23 [50],... 

The model of electric field-controlled artificial muscles has been described in 1972 [5], Fragala et al. fabricated an electrically activated artificial muscle system which uses a weakly acidic contractile polymer gel sensitive to pH changes. The pH changes are produced through electrodialysis of a solution. The response of the muscle as a function of pH, solution concentration, compartment size, certain cations, and gel fabrication has been studied. The relative change in length was about 10%, and the tensile force was 1 g/0.0025 cm2 under an applied electric field of 1.8 V and 10 mA/cm2. It took 10 min for the gel to shrink. 

Fluorescence is also a powerful tool for investigating the structure and dynamics of matter or living systems at a molecular or supramolecular level. Polymers, solutions of surfactants, solid surfaces, biological membranes, proteins, nucleic acids and living cells are well-known examples of systems in which estimates of local parameters such as polarity, fluidity, order, molecular mobility and electrical potential is possible by means of fluorescent molecules playing the role of probes. The latter can be intrinsic or introduced on purpose. The high sensitivity of fluo-rimetric methods in conjunction with the specificity of the response of probes to their microenvironment contribute towards the success of this approach. Another factor is the ability of probes to provide information on dynamics of fast phenomena and/or the structural parameters of the system under study. 

Equations (3) or (4), with refinements as necessary for "local field" effects, are an appropriate and useful basis for discussion of various models of non-conducting solutions of biological species considered in I. In many cases, however, solutions of interest have appreciable ionic concentrations in the natural solvent medium and the polymer or other solute species may also have net charges. Under these conditions, the electrical response is better considered in terms of the total current density Jfc(t) defined and expressed by linear response theory as... 

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