Potential application of polymer gels as smart sensors

Our society seriously demands the technological innovations in the materials science field, since we increasingly recognize that natural resources are not infinite. It is desirable and necessary to find not only the human friendly but also the environment conscious materials with advanced flexibility and higher functional performance. In this sense, smart materials could replace some of the conventional materials in various industries. Polymer gels are recognized as one of the most promising smart materials likely to impact science and technologies for the near future. The knowledge on the physical and chemical fundamentals of gel science will play a role as guiding principles for a wide variety of applications of gels not only as the smart functional elements but also the modeling of natural systems.