Research on a chemical reaction-driven gel pump published in Scientific Reports

An international collaborative research group of Prof. Maeda (Group A03) of Shibaura Institute of Technology) and École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) has developed a gel pump driven by chemical reactions. This research was published in Scientific Reports on 30th July, 2020.

This gel pump, which is driven by chemical energy generated by oscillating chemical reactions, behaves like an artificial heart and has first succeeded in driving fluid outside the system. The pump has an autonomous system without any electronic devices or programs, which is expected to be a new soft robot technology.

Paper title: Autonomous oil flow generated by self-oscillating polymer gels
Link to the paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-69804-3

The research group:
Main authors

Shibaura Institute of Technology
Mechanical Engineering, Graduate school of Engineering and Science
Smart Materials Lab
Dr. Z. Mao
Prof. S. Maeda

École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL）
Soft Transducers Laboratory, Institute of Microengineering, School of Engineering
Dr. V. Cacucciolo