Pratyush Dayal

University of Pittsburgh, Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar

Papers

Total Citations

H-Index

About

Pratyush Dayal is a leading researcher in the field of active soft matter, with a particular focus on the design and modeling of autonomously motile, stimuli-responsive polymer gels. His work bridges theoretical physics and materials science to create "smart" materials that mimic biological motion. Dayal’s most significant contribution is his pioneering computational modeling of Belousov–Zhabotinsky (BZ) gels, which undergo rhythmic mechanical oscillations. His landmark 2009 paper, "Designing autonomously motile gels that follow complex paths" (35 citations), demonstrated how light can control the complex trajectories of these self-oscillating materials. He further advanced this field by developing methods to model chemoresponsive gels (2014, 24 citations), establishing a computational framework for designing next-generation smart devices. Notably, his 2014 work on "Directing the Behavior of Active, Self-Oscillating Gels with Light" (20 citations) showed how to achieve biomimetic phototaxis—directed motion in response to light—in synthetic systems. With over 79 citations across his top papers, Dayal’s research is foundational for creating autonomous microrobots, soft actuators, and dynamic sensors that can sense and respond to environmental cues without external control.