A Meniscus-climbing Gel Robot

Abstract

Abstract We succeeded in the construction of a novel meniscus-climbing gel robot that autonomously converted the chemical energy from the Belousov–Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction to mechanical work. The gel periodically bent in synchronization with the change in the redox state of the [Ru(bpy)2(vmbpy)] moiety, owing to an asymmetric structure in the gel. The climbing force of the gel robot originated from the change in the surface tension due to the periodic change in the shape of the gel. The maximum speed of the gel robot was 1.5 mm s−1.