Journal Club Theme of September 2013: Stretchable Ionics

VERY cool paper, Zhigang. It opens up many possibilties and provides food for thought.

1) As the gel undergoes large deformation over time, one woud expect significant ionic fluid transport through the pores of the gel, thus dissipating energy giving (a) high internal friction and low Q, and (b) change of some mechanical property of the gel, e.g., increased anisotropy, with time. If the deformation is very fast, flow is expected to be limited, and hence high Q. Thus, it appears that the damping coefficient of the system may depend on the frequency of oscillation.  Did you find this trend in the expt.?

2) The concept of mimicking neuro-muscular junction or the neuron itself is intriguing. I am wandering whether memory can also be mimicked, i.e., does the transduction depend on the prior history of defrmation or voltage application? If so, is the retention of "memory" depends on a minimum number of voltage aplications and the value of the voltage?