Compared with normal stimulus such as light and heat, ultrasonic possesses much deeper penetration into tissues and organs and has lower scattering in heterogeneous systems as a noninvasive stimulus. Reversible addition-fragmentation chain-transfer polymerization (RAFT) in aqueous media is performed in a commercial ultrasonic wash bath with 40 kHz frequency ultrasonic, in the presence of piezoelectric tetragonal BaTiO3 (BTO) nanoparticles. Owing to the electron transfer from BTO under the ultrasonic action, the water can be decomposed to produce hydroxyl radical (HO•) and initiate the RAFT polymerization (piezo-RAFT). The piezo-RAFT polymerization exhibits features of controllable and livingness, such as linear increase of molar mass and narrow molar mass distributions (Mw/Mn < 1.20). Excellent temporal control of the polymerization and the chain fidelity of polymers are illustrated by "ON and OFF" experiment and chain extension, separately. Moreover, this ultrasonic-driven piezoelectric-induced RAFT polymerization in aqueous media can be directly used for the preparation of piezoelectric hydrogel which have potential application for stress sensor.
Keywords: RAFT polymerization; aqueous media; piezoelectric; ultrasonic.
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