Direction Control of Chemical Wave Propagation in Self-Oscillating Gel Array

A chemomechanical actuator utilizing a reaction-diffusion wave across gap junction was constructed toward a novel mircoconveyer by micropatterned self-oscillating gel array. Unidirectional propagation of the chemical wave of the Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction was induced on gel arrays. In the case of using a triangle-shaped gel as an element of the array, the chemical wave propagated from the corner side of the triangle gel to the plane side of the other gel (C-to-P) across the gap junction, whereas it propagated from the plane side to the corner side (P-to-C) in the case of the pentagonal gel array. Numerical analysis based on the Keener-Tyson model was done for understanding the mechanism of unidirectional propagation in triangle and pentagonal gel arrays. The swelling and deswelling changes of the gels followed the unidirectional propagation of the chemical wave.