Artificial Muscle by a Polymer Segment with Variable Length

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K18991
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 35:Polymers, organic materials, and related fields
• Research Institution: Toyota Technological Institute (2022-2023); Hokkaido University (2021)
• Principal Investigator: Kokado Kenta 豊田工業大学, 工学(系)研究科(研究院), 教授 (40600226)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-07-09 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 刺激応答性 / 高分子ゲル

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Artificial material which can stretch and contract like a muscle is one of a challenging oobject in the field of polymer chemistry. In this study, the author addressed this issue by using two approaches to polymer gels. The first one is a method to synthesize sophisticated gels by linking the components of porous crystals, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), and the development of a system that enables Monte Carlo simulations of bond formation enabled to precisely predict the nature of the formation of network polymers. The other is the design of new monomers based on the concept of variable-length polymer segments, and the author successfully synthesized polymers whose length can be changed by external stimuli.

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Free Research Field

高分子化学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

有機化学やナノテクノロジーの発展によって原子を精密に配置する技術が日々進歩しているが、より大きなメゾスコピック領域では途端に難しくなるのが現状である。筆者らが開発した手法によって精密に原子が配置されたネットワーク高分子を作れるようになれば、生体が作り出すような精緻な複雑系を設計することも可能になると考えられ、非常に微細な原子配置の設計によってメゾスコピックあるいはマクロスコピックな物性を階層的に制御できるようになることが期待できる。