Direct Conversion of Chemical Energy into Macroscopic Mechanical Energy by Use of Nonlinear Dynamics

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Living organisms convert chemical energy directly into site-directed mechanical energy. On the other hand, the modern technology on "chemical engine" picks up the mechanical energy from chemical energy through the generation of heat. The aim of the present research is to realize the direct energy conversion from chemical energy into site-directed mechanical motion. During the research of the past two years in this project, we have succeeded in constructing the following two different experimental systems, being capable of the direct energy conversion.1. Self-movement of an oil-water system induced by chemically-driven Marangoni instability is studied. Depending on the shape of the vessel and amount of oil and water solutions, various modes of movement are generated, such as random, rotational and amoeba-like motions. The most significant finding in this system is the realization of spatially directed mechanical movement. The mechanism of such chemomechanical transduction is discussed in relation to the temporal imbalance of the interfacial tension due to the nonlinear oscillation at the interface.2. We have found that a periodic change of the surface tension is generated at air/water interface, when the water phase is Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) medium. It has been shown that the difference of the surface activity of the iron-catalyst between [Fe (phen)_3]^<3+> and [Fe (phen)_3]^<2+> is the driving force of this rhythmic phenomenon. We also discovered a rhythmic phenomenon for an oil/water system, where the oil phase contains an ester and the water phase is an alkaline solution. These results indicate a new field of research toward the realization of chemo-mechanical coupling based on the idea of nonlinear dynamics.