Design of Autonomous Gel Actuators

Polymers

Shingo Maeda¹  Yusuke Hara²  Satoshi Nakamaru¹ 

[1] Department of Applied Physics, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, 3-4-1 Okubo Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 169-8555, Japan; E-Mail:;Nanosystem Research Institute, NRI, National Institute of Advanced Science and Technology, AIST, Central 5-2, 1-1-1 Higashi, Tsukuba 305-8565, Japan; E-Mails:

关键词: gel;    gel actuator;    chemical robot;   

DOI  :  10.3390/polym3010299

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

In this paper, we introduce autonomous gel actuators driven by chemical energy. The polymer gels prepared here have cyclic chemical reaction networks. With a cyclic reaction, the polymer gels generate periodical motion. The periodic motion of the gel is produced by the chemical energy of the oscillatory Belouzov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction. We have succeeded in making synthetic polymer gel move autonomously like a living organism. This experimental fact represents the great possibility of the chemical robot.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2011 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.