Chemical Tracking of Temperature by Concurrent Periodic Precipitation Pattern Formation in Polyacrylamide Gels.

ABSTRACT: In nature, nonequilibrium systems reflect environmental changes, and these changes are often "recorded" in their solid body as they develop. Periodic precipitation patterns, aka Liesegang patterns (LPs), are visual sums of complex events in nonequilibrium reaction-diffusion processes. Here we aim to achieve an artificial system that "records" the temperature changes in the environment with the concurrent LP formation. We first illustrate the differences in 1-D LPs developing at different temperatures in terms of band spacings, which can demonstrate the time, ramp steepness, and extent of a temperature change. These results are discussed and augmented by a mathematical model. Using scanning electron microscopy, we show that the average size of the CuCrO₄ precipitate also reflects

SUBMITTER: Khan MTA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8895381 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature