Entrapment in giant polymersomes of an inorganic oscillatory chemical reaction and resulting chemo-mechanical coupling.

Abstract

We present a methodology to entrap and run the Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction inside a polymer vesicle. We report on experiments with polymer vesicles where we observed (1) vesicle membrane deformations, (2) oscillations and (3) pulsating (expansion/contraction) episodes. The above provide us with evidence for chemo-mechanical coupling between these polymersomes and their contents.