A novel self-oscillating microgels were prepared by copolymerization N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAm), organic acid and iron(II) 5-acrylamide-1,10-phenanthroline-bi (1,10-phenanthroline) (Fe(phen)3), the catalyst for the Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction. The microgels were characterized by FTIR spectroscopy and scanning electron microscope (SEM). In order to illustrate the self-oscillating mechanism, the static water contact angles of the oxidized and reduced states of self-oscillating microgels were measured. In addition, the self-oscillating behaviors of the microgels were investigated in BZ system under acid-free conditions. Both the redox potential and transmittance self-oscillating were observed at room temperature.

A novel kind of microgels, poly(NIPAAm-co-Fe(phen)3-co-AAc), were prepared by copolymerization N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAm), acrylic acid (AAc) and iron(II) 5-acrylamide-1,10-phenanthroline-bi(1,10-phenanthroline) (Fe(phen)3), the catalyst for the Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction. The microgels were characterized by FT-IR spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), dynamic light scattering (DLS) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). In addition, the self-oscillating behaviors of the microgels were investigated in BZ system free of catalyst. Both the redox potential and transmittance self-oscillation were observed. Moreover, the amplitudes of poly(NIPAAm-co-Fe(phen)3-co-AAc) microgels are much larger than those of linear polymer and gel. This advantage originated from the special structure, size and composition of the microgels.

A novel self-oscillating copolymer was prepared by utilizing Fe(phen)3 as the catalyst of the Belousov–Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction. In this study, 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid (AMPS) was newly introduced into the copolymer of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAm) and Fe(phen)3 as the H+providing agent for the BZ reaction. The results indicated that the copolymer solution underwent soluble–insoluble self-oscillation only in malonic acid (MA) and  potassium bromate(KBrO3) mixture solution, and the amplitudes were much bigger than those of poly(NIPAAm-co-Fe(phen)3). That is to say, the novel copolymer succeeds in self-oscillating under acid-free conditions. Moreover, the oscillating characteristics were closely related to the content of AMPS in the copolymer.

A highly sensitive method for the determination of 4-NP based on a poly(ionic liquid) hollow nanosphere/gold nanoparticle composite modified glassy carbon electrode was proposed in this paper. The results showed that a good linear relationship between the peak current and the concentration of 4-NP existed in the range of 0.1–120 μM with a detection limit of 3.3 × 10−8 M (S/N = 3) and a correlation coefficient of 0.9964. This method had a lower detection limit and a wider linear range. The effects of some foreign species on the determination were also investigated. The proposed method has been successfully used to determine 4-NP in different water samples.

Self-oscillation for the poly(NIPAAm-co-Fe(phen)3) solution induced by the Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction was studied by changing initial substrate concentrations (i.e., malonic acid, potassium bromate, and sulphuric acid) of the BZ reaction and the concentration of polymer solution. The results showed that the self-oscillation could be controlled by changing the initial substrate concentrations of polymer and potassium bromate. However, the oscillation behavior was insensitive to the concentration of malonic acid and sulphuric acid.

Various semi-interpenetrating polymer network (semi-IPN) hydrogels composed of pore-forming agent polyethylene glycol (PEG), acrylic acid (AA) and acrylamide (AM) were prepared by using free radical polymerization with a two-step method. The chemical structures of the synthesized hydrogels were characterized by FTIR spectroscopy and the morphologies were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) method. The swelling properties, such as the pH-responsive behavior, salt sensitivity, oscillatory swelling/de-swelling behaviors in different solutions with various pH values and self-oscillating behaviors in bath pH oscillator were investigated in detail. The results revealed that the prepared hydrogels exhibited high pH sensitivity and excellent salt sensitivity when the pH values of the medium changes from 3.0 and 7.0 and well reversible properties by undergoing a number of swelling/de-swelling recycles. In particular, the hydrogels exhibited self-oscillation behavior in a closed system containing BrO3−SO32−Fe(CN)64−H+. This study may create a new possibility as biomaterial for new self-walking actuators and other devices.

Non-equilibrium plasma makes it is possible to modify surface chemistry, synthetize polymer materials, and oxidize some organic compounds completely by generation of energetic and chemically active species in gas or liquid phases. Glow-discharge electrolysis plasma (GDEP) has been intensely studied for applications in chemistry and in material, environmental, and biomedical engineering during the last few years because of the very highly active chemical species produced during the glow-discharge electrolysis (GDE) process. A brief review is already available regarding applications of glow-discharge electrolysis plasma technique in chemistry and environmental science during the past decade. For convenience of discussion, some papers from prior years are also cited. The contents of this review are focused on the degradation of persistent pollutants, surface modification of materials, and preparation of functional polymers.

A highly absorptive resin poly(butyl acrylate-co-styrene) was synthesized by the method of emulsion polymerization and initiated using glow discharge electrolysis plasma. The effects of the synthesis conditions were examined and discussed in detail. The synthesized resin was characterized by attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis.The results showed that the optimal conditions were as follows: discharge voltage 580 V, discharge time 11 min, polymerization temperature 90°C, ratio of water/monomer 4.0, and 3% of N,N-methylenebis(acrylamide).Under the optimal conditions, the oil absorbency was 97 g/g for chloroform and 56 g/g for xylene. In addition, the kinetics of absorption for oil was investigated, and the results indicated that the absorption process seems to obey more the first-order rate model.

Oscillating chemical reactions, which are far from equilibrium, are extremely sensitive to certain species and may provide new analytical methods using the regular oscillations as well as the non-equilibrium stationary state after system bifurcation. This review of their application to analytical chemistry from 2005 to 2012 includes other appropriate references. Both organic and inorganic analytes are included.

A highly sensitive method for the determination of 4-NP based on a poly(ionic liquid) hollow nanosphere/gold nanoparticle composite modified glassy carbon electrode was proposed in this paper. The results showed that a good linear relationship between the peak current and the concentration of 4-NP existed in the range of 0.1–120 μM with a detection limit of 3.3 × 10−8 M (S/N = 3) and a correlation coefficient of 0.9964. This method had a lower detection limit and a wider linear range. The effects of some foreign species on the determination were also investigated. The proposed method has been successfully used to determine 4-NP in different water samples.