Fig. 2: Base-catalyzed self-growing silicone materials.
From: Controlled macroscopic shape evolution of self-growing polymeric materials
a Chemical structure of D4, triD4, and TMAS, base-catalyzed ring-opening polymerization of D4 and chain exchange reactions of the obtained polymer chains. b Weight change of seeds in a growth cycle with a deactivated seed as a control. Annealing temperature: 90 °C. The samples were immersed in a D4 solution containing 2 wt% triD4. Right: the image of a square seed (i), its swelled square sample (ii), and grown spherical product (iii). The plotted data were obtained from eight independent measurements. Scale bars: 3 mm. c Photographs of a swelled sample at different times when annealed at 90 °C. d Plot of the ratio of axes (r/d) against the annealing time. Data in (b, d) are presented as mean values +/− SEM, n = 3.
