Design of Autonomous Gel Actuators

doi:10.3390/polym3010299

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Polymers 2011, 3(1), 299-313; doi:10.3390/polym3010299

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Design of Autonomous Gel Actuators

Shingo Maeda^1,* , Yusuke Hara², Satoshi Nakamaru^1,† and Shuji Hashimoto²

¹ Department of Applied Physics, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, 3-4-1 Okubo Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 169-8555, Japan ² Nanosystem Research Institute, NRI, National Institute of Advanced Science and Technology, AIST, Central 5-2, 1-1-1 Higashi, Tsukuba 305-8565, Japan ^† Current Address: Sony Advanced Materials Laboratories.

* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received: 15 November 2010; in revised form: 15 December 2010 / Accepted: 10 January 2011 / Published: 11 January 2011

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biofunctional Polymers for Medical Applications)

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Abstract: 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.

Keywords: gel; gel actuator; chemical robot

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Cite This Article

MDPI and ACS Style

Maeda, S.; Hara, Y.; Nakamaru, S.; Hashimoto, S. Design of Autonomous Gel Actuators. Polymers 2011, 3, 299-313.

AMA Style

Maeda S, Hara Y, Nakamaru S, Hashimoto S. Design of Autonomous Gel Actuators. Polymers. 2011; 3(1):299-313.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Maeda, Shingo; Hara, Yusuke; Nakamaru, Satoshi; Hashimoto, Shuji. 2011. "Design of Autonomous Gel Actuators." Polymers 3, no. 1: 299-313.

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