Chemomechanical material
0201202-31
[DEFINITION]
A material that can directly convert chemical energy into mechanical
energy.
[DESCRIPTION]
A collagen or polymer gel swells and shrinks reversibly at changes
in pH, temperature, ion species, ionic strength, solvent and so on by converting the chemical energy
into mechanical energy. In case that speed of deformation is affected by the diffusion rate ,
performance is improved by making it as fine, thin and small as possible and increasing surface area
per unit volume. Therefore this is eligible for micromachine. The force per unit cross section is
sometimes equivalent to that of human muscles. The problem is that the energy density of the
chemical energy that can be used is low.
[References]
(4)(6)(30)
[Related Terms]
Flagellar motor, Gel, Polymer processing