Nikolov Svetoslav V, Yeh Peter D, Alexeev Alexander
George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0405, United States.
ACS Macro Lett. 2015 Jan 20;4(1):84-88. doi: 10.1021/mz5007014. Epub 2014 Dec 26.
Using computational modeling, we design a microscopic swimmer made of a bilayered responsive hydrogel capable of swimming in a viscous fluid when actuated by a periodically applied stimulus. The gel has an X-shaped geometry and two bonded layers, one of which is responsive to environmental changes and the other which is passive. When the stimulus is turned on, the responsive layer swells and causes the swimmer to deform. We demonstrate that when such stimulus-induced deformations occur periodically the gel swimmer effectively propels forward through the fluid. We show that the swimming speed depends on the relative stiffness of the two gel layers composing the swimmer, and we determine the optimal stiffness ratio that maximizes the swimming speed.
通过计算建模，我们设计了一种由双层响应性水凝胶制成的微观游泳器，当受到周期性施加的刺激时，它能够在粘性流体中游泳。该凝胶具有X形几何结构和两个粘结层，其中一层对环境变化有响应，另一层是被动的。当刺激开启时，响应层膨胀并导致游泳器变形。我们证明，当这种由刺激引起的变形周期性发生时，凝胶游泳器能有效地在流体中向前推进。我们表明，游泳速度取决于构成游泳器的两个凝胶层的相对刚度，并确定了使游泳速度最大化的最佳刚度比。
