Self-driven gel conveyer: effect of interactions between loaded cargo and self-oscillating gel surface.

A "self-oscillating" gel that swells and deswells periodically under constant conditions is developed as a novel biomimetic gel differing from conventional stimuli-responsive polymer gels. By utilizing the peristaltic motion of the self-oscillating gel, autonomous mass-transport systems can be realized. With the propagation of the chemical wave, the loaded gel cargo is autonomously transported by rotating on the surface. To apply the self-driven gel conveyer to a wider range of uses, it is important to investigate the influence of the physical interaction between the self-oscillating gel and the loaded cargo on its transporting ability. Here, the effect of the interaction is evaluated by using several kinds of gel cargo with varying charge states, hydrophilicities, and surface roughnesses.