Artificial muscle is defined herein as a blend of a hydrogel and a redox polymer, which dramatically swells and shrinks under environmental stimuli. This actuator can be applied to micro fabricating valves for controlled delivery systems. Previous work in our group has shown that a blend of poly(2- hydroxy ethyl)methacrylate (polyHEMA) and polyaniline displayed significant swelling and shrinking upon application of an electrochemical bias. In this type of artificial muscle, polyaniline, a redox polymer, acts as the 'electronic backbone' for transferring for most of the swelling and shrinking. However, polyHEMA showed only weak swelling an shrinking in a chemimechanical system, thus purpose of the current study is to enhance the artificial muscle actuating properties. An optimized hydrogel swelled up to 1000 percent in alkaline solution and contracted 70 percent in acid solution. An artificial muscle microvalve array was also micro fabricated and tested. These results could lead to a smart wireless drug delivery implanted system.
In this paper we report the use of phase sensitive fluorometry to obtain preliminary results from opto-chemical fluorescent oxygen nanosensors. PEBBLE (Probe Encapsulated By Biologically Localized Embedding) sensors were fabricated by immobilizing tris(4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline)Ru(II) chloride and tris(1,10-phenanthroline)Ru(II) chloride within a polyacrylamide matrix. PEBBLEs have diameters of 20 - 200 nm and exhibit excellent performance for dissolved oxygen detection. Their performance is compared with micrometer-sized (10 - 20 micrometer) optical fiber sensors and free dye in solution. Oxygen sensing ability of PEBBLEs was tested in the presence of other quenchers and compared with free dyes in solution. While PEBBLEs have been developed for minimally invasive intracellular chemical analysis they show additional advantages, such as increased dynamic range, compared to microsensors, and an absence of interference (quenching) by heavy ions in contrast to free dye solutions.
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