Advancements in Gel Science—A Special Issue in Memory of Toyoichi Tanaka

Abstract

Gel is a typical state of matter that consists of a polymer network and a very large amount of solvent. Because of such structural characteristics, gel plays essential roles in many fields of science, such as physics, chemistry, and biology. Gel is also widely-used in the fields of medicine, food, separation and purification technologies. We are surrounded by many commodities that are made of gels, even in our daily lives. Nowadays, therefore, we gain a great deal of benefit from gel science. A large part of the progress in gel science today arises from pioneering studies on volume phase transition and the critical phenomena of the gel.

The field of gel science was extensively cultivated by the late Professor Toyoich Tanaka (1946–2000) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Professor Tanaka found the volume phase transition and the critical phenomena of gel, and he constructed almost all basic science of gel on his own. We, here, propose to Guest Edit this Special Issue, “Advancements in Gel Science”, in memory of Professor Toyoichi Tanaka, since we believe that it is worth a great deal to gel science to summarize the advances made on the basis of his great contributions.