Review of Soft Actuator Materials

Kim, Jung Woong; Kim, Jaehwan; Zhai, Lindong; Ko, Hyun‐U; Muthoka, Ruth M.

doi:10.1007/s12541-019-00255-1

Cited by 151 publications

(108 citation statements)

References 145 publications

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“…At a time when the expansion of artificial systems through our society is rapidly blooming, the research on soft actuators becomes more and more appealing and necessary. [ 1,2 ] Liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs), as a type of stimuli‐responsive materials, [ 3–7 ] exhibit outstanding reversible shape‐memory properties when exposed to external stimulations. [ 8–13 ] Since De Gennes [ 14 ] predicted the possibility of making LCE actuators in 1975, the continuous research and developments on LCEs attracted considerable attention and found potential applications as artificial muscles, [ 15–17 ] smart sensors, [ 18–20 ] motors, [ 21 ] and actuators.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plasma‐Induced Polymerizations: A New Synthetic Entry in Liquid Crystal Elastomer Actuators

Zhang

Guyon

et al. 2020

Macromol. Rapid Commun.

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The research on soft actuators including liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) becomes more and more appealing at a time when the expansion of artificial systems is blooming. Among the various LCE actuators, the bending deformation is often in the origin of many actuation modes. Here, a new strategy with plasma technology is developed to prepare single‐layer main‐chain LCEs with thermally actuated bending and contraction deformations. Two distinct reactions, plasma polymerization and plasma‐induced photopolymerization, are used to polymerize in one step the nematic monomer mixture aligned by magnetic field. The plasma polymerization forms cross‐linked but disoriented structures at the surface of the LCE film, while the plasma‐induced photopolymerization produces aligned LCE structure in the bulk. The actuation behaviors (bending and/or contraction) of LCE films can be adjusted by plasma power, reaction time, and sample thickness. Soft robots like crawling walker and flower mimic are built by LCE films with bending actuation.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plasma‐Induced Polymerizations: A New Synthetic Entry in Liquid Crystal Elastomer Actuators

Zhang

Guyon

et al. 2020

Macromol. Rapid Commun.

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“…[48] Although several active materials have been developed for use in soft actuators, only a few exhibit characteristics that make them suitable for use in bio-inspired, untethered, infrareddriven, reversible, and reprogrammable soft actuators. [45,49] In this article, we propose a method for the fabrication of an infrared-driven, untethered, reversible, and reprogrammable actuator for soft bio-inspired robots. A polymer bilayer structure comprising an infrared response layer (IR-layer) and a transparent elastic layer (T-layer) was fabricated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reprogrammable Untethered Actuator for Soft Bio‐Inspired Robots

Yang

Jin

et al. 2020

Advanced Intelligent Systems

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The use of active materials for the actuators in soft robots allows for safe interactions and adaptable locomotion. However, stimulating the behavior of soft robots as well as reprogramming them and implementing reversible control in them remains a challenge. Herein, a method for fabricating soft, bio‐inspired, untethered, infrared‐driven actuators that exhibit reversible and reprogrammable behaviors is proposed. By exploiting the mismatch in the infrared‐driven thermomechanical responses of the two active materials constituting the bilayered soft actuator, reversible actuation can be realized. More importantly, the shape of robots based on this actuator can be reprogrammed such that they exhibit bio‐inspired locomotion specific to the environment. For instance, a soft robot based on the actuator can be made to exhibit several bio‐inspired functions, such as crawling, rolling, and object manipulation, in a complex environment. Furthermore, reversible and reprogrammable actuation can be achieved in untethered soft bio‐inspired robots using the bilayer of infrared‐actuated thermoresponsive materials, suggesting that other materials with similar properties can also be adopted in a similar method. The proposed method allows for the integration of different active materials toward the realization of infrared‐driven, untethered reversible, and reprogrammable actuators for soft bio‐inspired robots.

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“…Recently, electricity-triggered changes in polymer materials present some progress, with the most notable examples dealing with dielectric soft actuators employing ultrahigh electric fields or electro-strictive elastomers. 28,29,30,31,32 However, electricity-induced changes in material properties, even simple on/off softening effects, are unprecedented in highly-reinforced high-performance bioinspired nanocomposites.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electrical Switching of High-Performance Bioinspired Nanocellulose Nanocomposites

Jiao

Lossada

Guo

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Nature fascinates with living organisms showing mechanically adaptive behavior. In contrast to gels or elastomers, it is profoundly challenging to switch mechanical properties in stiff bioinspired nanocomposites as they contain high fractions of immobile reinforcements. Here, we introduce facile electrical switching to the field of bioinspired nanocomposites, and show how the mechanical properties adapt to low direct current (DC). This is realized for renewable cellulose nanofibrils/polymer nanopapers with tailor-made interactions by deposition of thin single-walled carbon nanotube electrode layers for Joule heating. Application of DC at specific voltages translates into significant electro-thermal softening via dynamization and breakage of the thermo-reversible supramolecular bonds. The altered mechanical properties are reversibly switchable in power on/power off cycles. Furthermore, we showcase electricity-adaptive patterns and reconfiguration of deformation patterns using electrode patterning techniques. The simple and generic approach opens avenues for bioinspired nanocomposites for facile application in adaptive damping and structural materials, and soft robotics.

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Review of Soft Actuator Materials

Cited by 151 publications

References 145 publications

Plasma‐Induced Polymerizations: A New Synthetic Entry in Liquid Crystal Elastomer Actuators

Plasma‐Induced Polymerizations: A New Synthetic Entry in Liquid Crystal Elastomer Actuators

Reprogrammable Untethered Actuator for Soft Bio‐Inspired Robots

Electrical Switching of High-Performance Bioinspired Nanocellulose Nanocomposites

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