University of Münster, Germany
Organic Chemistry Institute


Invited Talk

Feedback control in adaptive hydrogels

The principle of self-assembly is emerging as a superior method for preparing responsive and adaptive nanomaterials. The structure and function of these materials are completely determined by the dynamic and weak interactions of the constituent molecular building blocks of the material. Since the interactions of the building blocks are rather weak, these versatile materials react to even small changes and stimuli in their environment. In addition, these materials are biomimetic and they can contain large amounts of water, so applications in biomedical engineering are foreseeable.

This talk will highlight our recent work on feedback control in adaptive hydrogels. The implementation of feedback loops in responsive materials can be considered a key step in the development of artificial adaptive nanosystems. Two case studies will be discussed in the lecture: redox-responsive supramolecular hydrogels regulated by enzymes and photo-responsive polymer hydrogels with embedded feedback. In particular in the latter case, interesting spiking behavior (pulsatile payload release) is observed.