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Tsukuru Masuda, Department of Materials Engineering, wins a 30th Advanced Technology Award

 

 On 10th June 2016, Mr. Tsukuru Masuda, Department of Materials Engineering, wins a 30th Advanced Technology Award.

 

 

<About awarded research>

 Recently, the functional surfaces composed of well-defined polymer brushes have attracted much attention. It is possible to create a dynamic polymer brush surface by modifying self-oscillating polymer that we have been developing. The self-oscillating polymer is a random copolymer of N-isopropylacrylamie and Ru(bpy)3 which acts as a catalyst oscillating chemical reaction (the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction). The self-oscillation is spontaneously induced by chemomechanical energy conversion from an oscillating chemical reaction into mechanical motion of polymer chain. In this study, self-oscillating polymer brushes were prepared by surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP) and the surface structure and the dynamic behavior was systematically investigated. As a result, autonomous propagation of chemical wave was successfully observed. The result will be helpful for developing autonomous mass transport systems.

 

 

<Comments>

 I am really glad to receive the honorable award. I am grateful to Prof. Ryo Yoshida, Dr. Aya Mizutani Akimoto (The University of Tokyo), Prof. Teruo Okano and Dr. Kenichi Nagase (Tokyo Women’s Medical University) for continuous guidance and helpful advices.