Gallium Adhesion: Phase Change of Gallium Enables Highly Reversible and Switchable Adhesion (Adv. Mater. 25/2016).

Ye, Zhou; Lum, Guo Zhan; Song, Sukho; Rich, Steven; Sitti, Metin · Adv Mater · 2016

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

M. Sitti and co-workers find that gallium exhibits highly reversible and switchable adhesive characteristics during the liquid-solid phase change. As described on page 5088, this reversible adhesive allows miniature capsule-like robots, which are able to easily pick-and-place objects with irregular geometries and rough surfaces, and thus assemble such objects into a complex structure. The contact interface between gallium and the rough object is illustrated in the magnified image.