title: Gallium Adhesion: Phase Change of Gallium Enables Highly Reversible and Switchable Adhesion (Adv. Mater. 25/2016).
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.
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, 70569, Stuttgart, Germany.
authors.forename: Zhou
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, 70569, Stuttgart, Germany.|Department of Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh,, PA 15213, USA.|School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 639798, Singapore.
authors.forename: Guo Zhan
authors.initials: GZ
authors.lastname: Lum
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, 70569, Stuttgart, Germany.|Department of Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh,, PA 15213, USA.
authors.forename: Sukho
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, 70569, Stuttgart, Germany.|Department of Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh,, PA 15213, USA.
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rich
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, 70569, Stuttgart, Germany.|Department of Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh,, PA 15213, USA.
authors.forename: Metin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sitti
keywords: gallium; manipulation; phase changes; reversible adhesion; switchability