High-Performance All-Gel-State Nano-Biopolymer Artificial Muscles Enabled by Macromolecularly Interconnected Conductive Microporous Chitosan and Graphene Loaded Carbon Nanosheet Based Ionic Electrolyte Membrane

Abstract

In this paper, we report all-hydrogel-state nano-biopolymer actuator based on nanocomposite ionic electrolyte layer with GO / MCNTs fibers and poly (Chitosan/glycerin/acetic acid), which revealed excellent flexibility, water retention, as well as superior electrochemical properties under different doping rates of MCNTs and GO. Our microporous ionic electrolyte membrane showed the uniform interconnectivity, high conductivity, and excellent mechanical properties due to the strong intermolecular interaction of Cs-MCNTs-GO, which efficiently reduced aggregation during the fabrication process. The proposed device can achieve large peak to peak deformation displacement (up to 4.08 mm) and bending force (up to 12 mN), and deliver remarkable specific capacitance (from 44.6 to 106.1 F/cm 2 ), quick response speed (approximately 20s), high ionic conductivity (17.5 uS/cm), small impedance (1.136 ), and excellent power density (from 0.18 to 0.25 W/g), outperforming than many gel-based actuators reported before. These findings suggest that the explored excellent ionic conductivity and flexibility of ionic polymer electrolyte holds great promise in the further study of high-performance actuators.

Carbon‐Based Nanomaterials Electrodes of Ionic Soft Actuators: From Initial 1D Structure to 3D Composite Structure for Flexible Intelligent Devices

“…Additionally, CNTs are frequently utilized in ISAs due to the qualities of light weight, good flexibility, and good durability. [55,[200][201][202] Even the ISA with a single SWCNT electrode exhibits exceptional actuation owing to the excellent conductivity, electromechanical properties, and structural stability of the SWCNT. [13,96,203] For instance, the ISA of the SWCNT electrode created by Kim et al [175] (Figure 4a,b) had a large bending strain of 0.45% (Figure 4c) under 1.0 V and 0.5 Hz, an ultrafast response of 0.2 s (Figure 4d), and a neglected reduction in the actuator performance after 20 000 cycles (Figure 4e).…”

“…The ISA petals can gradually close and open when a voltage is supplied, simulating the natural flower bloom and fall. Consequently, the Graphene and its derivatives (GO, rGO) [1,6,20,46,69,74,92,94,95,99,191,209,219] Porous ISA plant-based bionic robots based on CBN electrodes have potential application value in wearable electronic products, aesthetic decoration, and teaching demonstrations.…”

Preparation and Electrochemical Performance Analysis of Flexible Ionic Polymers by Freeze-Drying Technology

“…Te electrode layer produced by chemical plating, combined tightly with an ion exchange membrane, does not easily fall of, but the resistance is large and the price is very high since, in order to improve the electrode layer's density, this step needs to be repeated [21]. Moreover, if we add diferent reinforced materials in the ion exchange membrane, we also can improve the performance of IPMC; for example, graphene oxide can improve the conductivity, electric capacity, and energy storage [22,23].…”

Doped photo-crosslinked polyesteramide hydrogels as solid electrolytes for supercapacitors

“…19,20 However, in recent years the utilization of hydrogels based on biopolymers from biomass and/or synthetic biopolymers based on natural constituents is gaining more attention. [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35] These bio-based solid electrolytes exhibit important advantages, for instance renewability, earth abundancy, lowcost, biodegradability, biocompatibility and/or environmental friendless. Thus, fabrication of bio-based electrolytes contributes to reduce not only the resource consumption but also the enormous electronic garbage after their service lifetime.…”