Effect of substrate concentrations on the aggregation behavior and dynamic oscillatory properties of self-oscillating block copolymers.

We developed a novel type of block copolymer, named the self-oscillating block copolymer, which exhibits autonomous assembly and disassembly driven by the dissipative structures formed by the oscillatory Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction. In a catalyst-free BZ solution, this polymer undergoes autonomous structural changes following the periodic redox changes of a metal catalyst incorporated into the polymer side chain. However, until now, a detailed study of the relationship between the dynamic structural changes and polymer solution conditions has not been conducted. We investigated the effect of substrate concentrations of the BZ reaction and the addition of salts on the equilibrium structures as well as the oscillatory properties of the self-oscillating block copolymers. We clarified that the substrate concentrations and the addition of specific salts significantly modulate dynamic assembly and disassembly of block copolymers.