MATERIALS CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
·
2020
·
IF 3.408
Hongyao Ding,Xiaoxu Liang,Si Yu Zheng,Qiao Wang,Zongjin Li,Guoxing Sun
Hydrogel-based actuators have attracted much attention and shown promising applications in many fields. However, it remains a challenge to assemble two hydrogel sheets into a double-layer actuator due to their slippery and non-adhesive nature. Herein, we present a simple and reliable strategy that allows two hydrogel sheets to be bonded together well with chemical bonds formed in condensation reactions, only requiring interfacial contact and then heat-treatment. The results shown that the condensation reactions can occur under heat-treatment and that the two hydrogel layers have good interfacial bonding. The double-layer strip hydrogels prepared in this method showed different deformation rate and bending extent, which can be well tuned by changing internal structures and external stimuli. Complex and controllable three-dimensional shapes of the assembled blocks can be obtained through well-tailored structures. A four-arm gripper prepared in this approach can implement the grasping and releasing an object quickly with different stimuli. This work provides a facile approach in achieving hydrogel bonding and preparing intelligent double-layer soft actuators .
研究领域:
材料科学
·
生物医学工程
✓ 已验证
DOI
高影响因子
SENSORS AND ACTUATORS B-CHEMICAL
·
2023
·
IF 8.4
Guinan Chen,Jiahao Li,Nanjun Li,Chenglong Guo,Peng Jin,Liangjun Chen,Yongwu Peng
Thermal bimorph actuators have important applications in artificial muscles, switches, and microsensors for robotics and biomimetic devices. To broaden the adaptability of environments, it is essential to fabricate thermal actuators with multiple stimulus responses, including electricity, near-infrared (NIR) light, and ultraviolet (UV) light, with fast and large deformations . Herein, a thermal actuator with programmable stimuli response was designed by combining silver nanowires (AgNWs) with Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene . Due to the synergistic effect of AgNWs with high plasmonic properties and electrical conductivity as well as Ti 3 C 2 T x MXene with good flexibility and photothermal properties, the obtained actuator can roll up for 2200° at a low driving voltage (2 V) and shows a fast response speed of 0.4 s for a bending angle of 360° under NIR light. More remarkably, the obtained thermal actuator can curl 360° in 1.2s under UV light which has never been reported before. We believe that such thermal actuators are attractive for a wide range of innovative technologies involving soft-bodied robots, intelligent grippers, bionic worms, and information cryptography.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
智能设备
·
仿生学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL
·
2025
·
IF 13.2
Jiayi Zhou,Wenwei Huang,Yan Zhang,Ming Zhang,Yining Sun,Fangjie Li,Dongye Yang
The rapid advancement of smart actuators has highlighted the challenge of preparing mechanically robust, large-scale films for their fabrication. In this study, xanthan gum, renowned for its excellent water absorption properties, was combined with MXene to create a nacre-inspired composite film reinforced by abundant hydrogen bonds. This unique structure significantly enhances the film's mechanical properties, improving tensile strength and toughness, enabling it to withstand crumpling and folding without damage. MXG exhibited excellent weldability, facilitating the production of large-scale films. The incorporation of micro-wrinkles endows the film with anisotropic mechanical behavior, while its strong water absorption capacity enables programmable humidity-driven actuation under a gradient. The actuator demonstrates rapid response speeds, substantial bending curvatures, and excellent cyclic stability. Furthermore, leveraging the photothermal properties of MXene, the film generates a photothermal Marangoni effect under light irradiation, enabling programmable and directional movement on water surfaces. With superior mechanical performance, weldability, and photothermal responsiveness, this composite film shows great potential for manufacturing large-scale actuators with applications in cargo transportation, intelligent robotics, and soft devices.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
纳米技术
·
高分子科学
·
智能材料
·
致动器
·
软体机器人
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
Nature Communications
·
2025
·Vol. 16
·期 1
·1-11
·
IF 15.7
Lu Chao,Chen Wei,Zhang Xiaohong
Ionic actuators with capability of electro-mechanical transduction are emerging as a useful platform for artificial intelligence and modern medical instruments. However, the insufficient ion transport inside material interfaces usually leads to limited energy transduction efficiency and energy density of actuators. Here, we report a polyrotaxane interface with adjustable ion transport based on sliding-ring effect for highly-efficient ionic actuators. The switch status of ion channels is synchronous with actuation strains, and energy barrier of interfacial ion transfer is reduced. As a result, the electro-mechanical transduction efficiency of actuators gets significantly improved. The as-delivered energy density of devices is stronger than that of mammalian skeletal muscle. Based on the high actuation performances, we demonstrate a fiber-shape soft actuator that can be directly injected into biological tissue just using syringe. The injectable actuator is promising for surgical navigation and physiological monitoring.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
生物医学工程
·
人工智能
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
ACS Nano
·
2018
·
IF 13.709
Yixuan Shang,Zhuoyue Chen,Fanfan Fu,Lingyu Sun,Changmin Shao,Wei Jin,Hong Liu,Yuanjin Zhao
Biohybrid actuators composed of living tissues and artificial materials have attracted increasing interest in recent years because of their extraordinary function of dynamically sensing and interacting with complex bioelectrical signals. Here, a compound biohybrid actuator with self-driven actuation and self-reported feedback is designed based on an anisotropic inverse opal substrate with periodical elliptical macropores and a hydrogel filling. The benefit of the anisotropic surface topography and high biocompatibility of the hydrogel is that the planted cardiomyocytes could be induced into a highly ordered alignment with recovering autonomic beating ability on the elastic substrate. Because of the cell elongation and contraction during cardiomyocyte beating, the anisotropic inverse opal substrates undergo a synchronous cycle of deformation actuations, which can be reported as corresponding shifts of their photonic band gaps and structural colors. These self-driven biohybrid actuators could be used as elements for the construction of a soft-bodied structural color robot, such as a biomimetic guppy with a swinging tail. Besides, with the integration of a self-driven biohybrid actuator and microfluidics, the advanced heart-on-a-chip system with the feature of microphysiological visuality has been developed for integrated cell monitoring and drug testing. This anisotropic inverse opal-derived biohybrid actuator could be widely applied in biomedical engineering.
研究领域:
生物医学工程
·
生物材料
·
组织工程
·
机器人学
·
微流控技术
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
JOURNAL OF COLLOID AND INTERFACE SCIENCE
·
2024
·
IF 9.4
Jiazhou Zeng,Xin Jing,Liya Lin,Gangrong Wang,Yaoxun Zhang,Peiyong Feng
Smart sensing and excellent actuation abilities of natural organisms have driven scientists to develop bionic soft-bodied robots. However, most conventional robots suffer from poor electrical conductivity, limiting their application in real-time sensing and actuation. Here, we report a novel strategy to enhance the electrical conductivity of hydrogels that integrated actuation and strain-sensing functions for bioinspired self-sensing soft actuators. Conductive hydrogels were synthesized in situ by copolymerizing MXene nanosheets with thermosensitive N -isopropylacrylamide and acrylamide under a direct current electric field. The resulting hydrogels exhibited high electrical conductivity (2.11 mS/cm), good sensitivity with a gauge factor of 4.79 and long-term stability. The developed hydrogels demonstrated remarkable capabilities in detecting human motions at subtle strains such as facial expressions and large strains such as knee bending. Additionally, the hydrogel electrode patch was capable of monitoring physiological signals. Furthermore, the developed hydrogel showed good thermally induced actuation effects when the temperature was higher than 30 °C. Overall, this work provided new insights for the design of sensory materials with integrated self-sensing and actuation capabilities, which would pave the way for the development of high-performance conductive soft materials for intelligent soft robots and automated machinery.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
生物医学工程
·
智能机器人
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
MACROMOLECULAR MATERIALS AND ENGINEERING
·
2024
·
IF 4.2
Duanhao Lu,Ying Yu,Yuxin Zuo,Yong Lv,Tianyu Zhang,You Li,Zhangfeng Zhao
Ionic electroactive polymer gels are widely employed as actuators in soft robotics due to their ability to undergo rapid mechanical deformation under low-voltage. How to improve the performance of the ionic electroactive polymer actuators is always the focus of research in this field. Optimizing the migration of ions within the actuator is crucial for enhancing the actuation performance. In this regard, this study innovatively introduces slot-die-printing technology to fabricate gel actuation layers characterized by high smoothness and uniform particle distribution, achieving seamless integration between the electrodes and gel actuation layers, while mitigating issues associated with ion accumulation due to polymer clustering. Furthermore, this study attempts to add lactic acid to the traditional CS-PVA-IL gel, effectively strengthening the connection between CS and PVA, and promoting smooth ion transport within the gel. The results demonstrate that the actuators prepared in this study achieved a high-bending-strain of 0.35%, with a retention rate of 91% for actuation displacement after 10 000 cycles, showcasing superior actuation performance compared to existing research. The fabrication method proposed in this study is simple and highly reproducible, making it suitable for widespread industrial application, and providing a new approach for future industrial production of soft robotics.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
机器人技术
·
聚合物科学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
SENSORS AND ACTUATORS B-CHEMICAL
·
2018
·
IF 5.667
Yi Li,Yanbiao Li,Minoru Hashimoto
In this work, a novel planar actuator based on plasticized poly (vinyl chloride) gel and flexible silicone grease electrodes is proposed to realize a new soft actuator with high performance under low driving voltages. The proposed planar PVC gel actuator (PPGA) can demonstrate a strain of 21%, an output stress of over 0.6 MPa and a respond time of about 90 ms, only at a low driving voltage of 120 V. These performances are comparable to those of the biological muscle and are much better as compared to 10–12% strain and 0.09 MPa stress at 400 V for the traditional stainless electrodes-based multilayered PVC gel actuator (MPGA). In addition, compared to the typical planar dielectric elastomer actuator (DEA) (3 M VHB4905), the operating voltage and response time for the PPGA are reduced by one order of magnitude. A theoretical model is used to discuss the difference between the two types of actuators, finding a good agreement with the experimental results. Furthermore, the PPGA can be continuously actuated for more than 1 million times which shows a good durability. These results demonstrate the feasibility of PPGA as a soft actuator, so a wide application is expected.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
软体机器人学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
·
2025
·
IF 8.2
Cunping Bai,Jingtian Kang,Yan Qing Wang
Liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) are among the key smart materials driving soft robotics and LCE fibers have garnered significant attention for their rapid response characteristics. A convenient and fast method for programming orientations of liquid crystal molecules is a focal issue in LCE applications. Inspired by the Kirigami technique, here, we propose a novel method for fabricating LCE fibers based on customizable cutting paths and secondary photo-cross-linking. While most existing LCE actuators exhibit contraction ratios of around 30 to 40%, our conical spiral actuator, fabricated from LCE-carbon nanotube (CNT) fiber using the proposed method, demonstrates a significantly higher contraction ratio, reaching up to 80%. The contraction ratio can be controlled by adjusting the cutting path parameters and we elucidate the mechanism linking liquid crystal orientation to the distribution of contraction ratio. Additionally, the conical spiral deformation of the actuator can be manipulated with light radiation, enabling versatile functionalities such as catching, twisting, and gripping. We hope that the novel LCE fiber fabrication method presented provides new insights for programming and preparing LCE fibers, offering a valuable reference for the application of smart soft materials.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
软体机器人
·
智能材料
·
高分子科学
·
纳米技术
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
ACS Nano
·
2020
·
IF 14.588
Jie Cao,Zehang Zhou,Quancheng Song,Keyu Chen,Gehong Su,Tao Zhou,Zhuo Zheng,Canhui Lu,Xinxing Zhang
Soft actuation materials are highly desirable in flexible electronics, soft robotics, etc. However, traditional bilayered actuators usually suffer from poor mechanical properties as well as deteriorated performance reliability. Here, inspired by the delicate architecture of natural bamboo, we present a hierarchical gradient structured soft actuator via mesoscale assembly of micro–nano-scaled two-dimentional MXenes and one-dimentional cellulose nanofibers with molecular-scaled strong hydrogen bonding. The resultant actuator integrates high tensile strength (237.1 MPa), high Young’s modulus (8.5 GPa), superior toughness (10.9 MJ/m3), and direct and fast hygroscopic actuation within a single body, which is difficult to achieve by traditional bilayered actuators. The proof-of-concept prototype robot is demonstrated to emphasize its high mechanical robustness even after bending 100 000 times, kneading, or being trampled by an adult (7 500 000 times heavier than a crawling robot). This bioinspired mesoscale assembly strategy provides an approach for soft materials to the application of next-generation robust robotics.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
软体机器人
·
纳米技术
·
机械工程
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
Journal of Materials Chemistry C
·
2024
·
IF 5.7
Shizhen Song,Tengfei Zheng,Bo Li,Hangcheng Yang,Qin-Xiang Jia,Zhuting Hao,Wen Zhang,Ying Zhang
Solvent vapor-driven soft actuators have been seen as promising devices for human-environment interaction and gained considerable attention in recent years. Considering the limited types of response solvent and the lack of quantification, MOF/polymer intelligent soft actuators may be a potential candidate of the fabrication of the bio solvent-driven actuators. Thus, this paper present a multiple solvent-driven soft actuator based on MIL-88B/PVDF asymmetric film, and also the comparison to the analogs based on other MIL-88(Fe) series flexible MOFs (including MIL-88A, 88C and 88D) was made for the deformation-structure relationship and the solvent-driven mechanism investigation. The deformation behavior to various organic solvent (including methanol, toluene and chloroform) of the MIL-88(Fe)/PVDF composite films have been investigated, and the structure and composition of the MIL88(Fe) fillers and the composite films were also characterized by SEM, FT-IR, and XRD. Based on the above results, the MIL-88B/PVDF composite which shows the diversity of response objects and the fast deformation response to most of the organic solvents through the solvent swelling/adsorption of the MOF skeleton, was used to fabricate a monolayer soft film composed by MIL-88B, carbon black (CB) and PVDF, namely MIL-88B/CB/PVDF. The MIL-88B/CB/PVDF film not only realizes the excellent deformation-discolor dual-responsive to methanol atmosphere with the visible deformation which could being quickly achieved within 1s under 10 vol % methanol atmosphere and the maximum crimp angle being up to 558o within about 50 s, and also a wide color change range including six view angle-dependent high saturation color (red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple), but also shows an approximate linear relationship to three of the organic solvents (methanol, toluene and chloroform) between the maximum curl angle and the solvent concentration. Furthermore, several smart devices have also been fabricated, including the methanol-driven bionic petals, worm robot, alertor and LIG sensor. Therefore, such soft composites of flexible MOF and polymer have great potential in bio-robot and this work may provide new design strategy for the MOFs/polymer smart materials.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
化学工程
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
·
2024
·
IF 8.3
Jiaxin Wu,Wenfei Ai,Yue Long,Kai Song
Soft actuators possessing notable mechanical deformations, high sensitivity, and fast response speed play a crucial role in various applications, such as artificial muscles, soft robots, and intelligent devices. In this study, a smart humidity-driven actuator was successfully fabricated by utilizing MXene/cellulose nanofiber (CNF)/LiCl (MCL) through vacuum-assisted filtration with fast response speed and high sensitivity. Utilizing the excellent humidity responsiveness of MXene/CNF and the robust hygroscopicity of LiCl, the synergistic effect of these materials enhances the hygroscopic properties and response speed of the actuator. The MCL actuator demonstrates excellent actuation performance, fast deformation, and reliable cyclic stability. To illustrate the extensive potential of the soft actuator, a range of applications, from bionic devices to soft grippers and crawling actuators, are showcased. Remarkably, the crawling actuator demonstrates sustained crawling motion without necessitating a humidity switch, relying on the humidity gradient from water droplets, and exhibits spontaneous directional motions within a certain range, which makes it a promising prospect in the field of soft robotics.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
智能设备
·
软机器人
✓ 已验证
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
危险品化学品经营许可证（带存储）