Thus far, there have been only a few applications of electroadhesion, such as to assemble gels into 3-D structures 6, 7, 8. The mechanism for electroadhesion is still not completely understood, but it is believed to involve molecular rearrangement of both polymer chains and counterions at the gel-gel interface 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. If the polarity of the field is reversed, the gels lose their adhesion and can be detached (this too is shown by the movie). Thus, the adhesion is induced by the electric field, and hence the term ‘electroadhesion’ for this phenomenon 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. The movie also shows that the same gels will not adhere if contacted in the absence of the field. As shown in the movie, within seconds, the two gels become strongly adhered. Thereafter a DC voltage is applied in a specific orientation. The two gels are contacted with each other along one face and electrodes are placed along either side, as shown by Supplementary Movie 1. ![]() ![]() ![]() The starting point is to take two solid gels (slabs or strips), each formed by chemical crosslinking of monomers, with one gel having a cationic backbone and the other an anionic backbone. The phenomenon of “electroadhesion” involving two oppositely charged polyelectrolyte hydrogels was first reported about 10 years ago 1.
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