Journal of Materials Chemistry C
·
2018
·Vol. 6
·期 24
·6416-6422
·
IF 5.976
Taoping Wang,Mingtong Li,Hui Zhang,Yunyu Sun,Bin Dong
Smart actuators have recently been widely studied due to their potential applications in the fields of wearable devices, artificial muscles and microrobots. However, it is still challenging to develop smart actuators with a fast response time, large deformation, multi-stimuli response ability and programmable shape-changing capability. Here, we report a novel smart actuator, which consists of polypyrrole and agar. Due to the water absorbing ability, the photothermal effect and the protonation behavior originating from polypyrrole and agar, the resulting actuator is responsive to a variety of stimuli, including humidity, light, temperature, HCl and NH3 gas. In addition, the actuator exhibits fast responsiveness, controllable actuation and large bending. Interestingly, two external stimuli can be combined to activate the actuator, leading to continuous shape changes in a programmable fashion. Multi-stimuli responsive actuators have opened up great opportunities in a variety of applications. As a proof-of-concept, we have demonstrated their application as a walking device with cargo transportation and delivery capabilities.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
仿生学
·
纳米技术
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
MACROMOLECULAR CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
·
2025
·
IF 2.7
Zhongrui Wang,Yuwen Meng,Nan Sun,Yongzheng Xing,Xu Wang
This study introduces a novel design for pH-sensitive bilayer Janus hydrogels with bidirectional bending capabilities, achieved through the layer-by-layer polymerization of two distinct hydrogel layers. The upper layer, composed of P(HEMA -co- 4VP), swells in acidic environments due to the protonation of pyridine groups, inducing bending toward one side. Conversely, the lower layer, made of P(HEMA -co- AA), expands in alkaline conditions by deprotonation, causing bending toward the opposite direction. The bilayer hydrogel demonstrates significant shape deformations, influenced by variations in layer thickness and pH conditions. Detailed analyses of swelling behaviors, compressive toughness, and rheological properties reveal that the unique composition ensures distinct and tunable mechanical responses. Furthermore, hydrogels fabricated into complex geometries, such as flower- and starfish-shaped structures, showcase practical applications in soft robotics and biomimetic devices. The versatility of the design is further confirmed by substituting P(HEMA -co- 4VP) with P(HEMA -co- DMAEMA), which maintained the bidirectional bending responses under both acidic and alkaline conditions. This research expands the theoretical understanding of stimulus-responsive hydrogels and offers an innovative platform for designing intelligent actuators adaptable to diverse and dynamic environments.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
软体机器人
·
生物医学工程
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
EUROPEAN POLYMER JOURNAL
·
2023
·
IF 6
Shulan Jiang,Li Xia,Hao Ma,Tingting Yang,Linmao Qian
Smart hydrogels have received attentions for the great potentials in biomedical and robots applications. However, the deformation performance of hydrogels still needs to be improved, especially for the pH and thermal dual responsive hydrogels. In this study, a pH and temperature dual-responsive poly(acrylamide-acrylic acid-3-acrylamidophenylboronic acid)/Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (P(AAm-AAc-3-AAPBA)/PNIPAM) bilayer structures have been prepared by UV polymerization. The PNIPAM layer shrinks/swells when the temperature is higher/lower than the low critical solution temperature , while P(AAm-AAc-3-AAPBA) layer will swell/shrink when pH is too high/low. The volume change trend of the two layer is different, resulting in the bending behaviors of P(AAm-AAc-3-AAPBA)/PNIPAM hydrogel actuator. The bidirectional bending performance can be reversibly, repeatedly, and precisely controlled by pH and temperature-induced cooperative swelling-shrinking properties from both layers. The bending angle of the bilayer structure achieves about 1420° at the environment of pH 2 and 55 ℃. It takes about 70 s to convert the bending angle of the bilayer structures from 355° (10 ℃, pH 2) to −360° (55 ℃, pH 12). In addition, three kinds of biomimetic hydrogel structures, such as mechanical gripper, bionic flower and bionic hand, have been prepared and demonstrated good performance. The obtained P(AAm-AAc-3-AAPBA)/PNIPAM hydrogels exhibit excellent pH and thermal responsive bending properties, which enable them as an ideal smart hydrogel system.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
生物医学工程
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
·
2017
·
IF 7.504
Lei Zhao,Jiahe Huang,Yuancheng Zhang,Tao Wang,Weixiang Sun,Zhen Tong
Facile preparation, rapid actuating, and versatile actions are great challenges in exploring new kinds of hydrogel actuators. In this paper, we presented a facile sticking method to prepare Janus bilayer and multilayer hydrogel actuators that benefited from a special tough and adhesive PAA-clay hydrogel. Combining physical and chemical cross-linking reagents, we endowed the PAA gel with both toughness and adhesion. This PAA gel was reinforced by further cross-linking with Fe3+. These two hydrogels with different cross-linking densities exhibited different swelling capabilities and moduli in the media manipulated by pH and ionic strength, thus acting as promising candidates for soft actuators. On the basis of these gels, we designed hydrogel actuators of rapid response in several minutes and precisely controlled actuating direction by sticking two hydrogel layers together. Elaborate soft actuators such as bidirectional bending flytrap, gel hand with grasp, open, and gesturing actions as well as word-writing actuator were prepared. This method could be generalized by using other stimuli-responsive hydrogels combined with the adhesive PAA gel, which would open a new way to programmable and versatile soft actuators.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
软体机器人
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
Gels
·
2023
·Vol. 9
·期 4
·279
·
IF 4.6
Yanjing Zhang,Xingyu Cao,Yuyu Zhao,Huahuo Li,Shengwei Xiao,Zhangxin Chen,Guobo Huang,Ye Sun,Zhenzhong Liu,Zhicai He
As one of the most important anisotropic intelligent materials, bi-layer stimuli-responsive actuating hydrogels have proven their wide potential in soft robots, artificial muscles, biosensors, and drug delivery. However, they can commonly provide a simple one-actuating process under one external stimulus, which severely limits their further application. Herein, we have developed a new anisotropic hydrogel actuator by local ionic crosslinking on the poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) hydrogel layer of the bi-layer hydrogel for sequential two-stage bending under a single stimulus. Under pH = 13, ionic-crosslinked PAA networks undergo shrinking (-COO−/Fe3+complexation) and swelling (water absorption) processes. As a combination of Fe3+crosslinked PAA hydrogel (PAA@Fe3+) with non-swelling poly(3-(1-(4-vinylbenzyl)-1H-imidazol-3-ium-3-yl)propane-1-sulfonate) (PZ) hydrogel, the as-prepared PZ-PAA@Fe3+bi-layer hydrogel exhibits distinct fast and large-amplitude bidirectional bending behavior. Such sequential two-stage actuation, including bending orientation, angle, and velocity, can be controlled by pH, temperature, hydrogel thickness, and Fe3+concentration. Furthermore, hand-patterning Fe3+to crosslink with PAA enables us to achieve various complex 2D and 3D shape transformations. Our work provides a new bi-layer hydrogel system that performs sequential two-stage bending without switching external stimuli, which will inspire the design of programmable and versatile hydrogel-based actuators.Keywords:bi-layer hydrogel;two-stage actuation;pH response;programmable;single stimulus
研究领域:
材料科学
·
软体机器人
·
生物医学工程
·
化学工程
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
危险品化学品经营许可证（带存储）