Rippling polymer sheets flex like muscles
Two-dimensional Belousov–Zhabotinsky gels mimic the way organisms move
A pulsating polymer gel has been used to make sheets that can ripple in a similar way to a muscle contracting. The work could aid the development of autonomous soft machines with life-like actuators for locomotion.
Self-oscillating Belousov–Zhabotinsky (BZ) gels were first reported in 1996. The material shrinks and swells in response to the phase of the BZ reaction – an oscillatory chemical reaction that is a classic example of non-equilibrium thermodynamics.