Toward nano-biomimetic muscles: polyacrylonitrile nanofibers

Samatham, Ravikant; Choe, Kiyoung; Shahinpoor, Mohsen; Nam, Jae‐Do

doi:10.1117/12.534363

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Following Schreyer's activation process, the electrospun PAN was annealed for 2 hours at 240°C [43]. To simplify the handling of the samples, the electrospun fibers remained on the aluminum foil and were removed after heat treatment.…”

Section: 4: Improving Pan Fiber Conductivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

An investigation of electrochemomechanical actuation of conductive Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofiber composites

Gonzalez

Walter

2014

SPIE Proceedings

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A polymer-based nanofiber composite actuator designed for linear actuation was fabricated by electrospinning, actuated by electrolysis, and characterized by electrical and mechanical testing to address performance limitations and understand the activation processing effects on actuation performance. Currently, Electroactive polymers (EAPs) have provided uses in sensory and actuation technology, but have either low force output or expand rather than contract, falling short in capturing the natural motion and function of muscle desperately needed to provide breakthroughs in the bio-medical and robotic fields. Previous research has shown activated Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fibers having biomimetic functionalities similar to the sarcomere contraction responsible for muscle function. Activated PAN is also known to contract and expand by electrolysis when in close vicinity to the anode and cathode, respectively. PAN nanofibers especially show faster response to changes in environmental pH and improved mechanical properties over larger diameter fibers. Conductive additives were introduced to the electrospinning solution and activated in an attempt to create composite PAN nanofiber gel actuators with improved conductivity and eliminate the need of stiff electrodes. Tensile testing was conducted to examine changes in mechanical properties between annealing and hydrolysis processing. Introducing conductive additives did not show a significant increase in conductivity and created unusable samples, requiring alternative electrode materials. Electrochemical contraction rates up to 25%/ min were achieved. Strains of 58.8%, ultimate stresses up to 77.1 MPa, and moduli of 0.21 MPa were achieved with pure PAN nanofiber mats, surpassing mechanical properties of natural muscles. Improvements to contraction rates and young's moduli are necessary to capture the function and performance of skeletal muscles properly.

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Section: 4: Improving Pan Fiber Conductivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

An investigation of electrochemomechanical actuation of conductive Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofiber composites

Gonzalez

Walter

2014

SPIE Proceedings

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…PAN nanofibers have been produced mostly by the use of direct current (DC)‐electrospinning technique, in which a polymer precursor solution is, typically, forced through a capillary needle while applying a static electric field between the needle and grounded collector to form a propagating polymer jet. Significant progress has been achieved over the last decade in directing the assembly of PAN nanofibers, controlling their diameter, regulating textural and mechanical properties, and fabricating various electrospun nanofibrous PAN and PAN‐based structures with attractive combinations of desired properties . For example, Young's moduli of up to 48 GPa and tensile strengths up to 1.75 GPa were reported for electrospun individual PAN nanofibers (∼140 nm in diameter), approaching typical values for high performance fibers .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of nanocrystalline cellulose addition on needleless alternating current electrospinning and properties of nanofibrous polyacrylonitrile meshes

Paulett

Brayer

Hatch

et al. 2017

J of Applied Polymer Sci

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Needleless alternating current (AC)-electrospinning is capable of achieving high nanofiber generation rates while adding more flexibility to the process development when compared to common direct current (DC)-electrospinning. However, ACelectrospinning process may produce very different results than DC-electrospinning when using the same precursors. This study demonstrated that stable AC-electrospinning of uniform and mechanically strong polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibrous meshes can be achieved at 30 6 5 kV rms voltage when 0.75-6.0 wt % of nanocrystalline cellulose-II with respect to PAN is added to a typical PAN precursor solution. Efficient generation (up to 2 g/h rate or 0.7 g h 21 cm 22 mass flux) of nanofibers with 250-500 nm fiber diameters has been observed when using flat fiber-generating electrodes with diameters up to 25 mm. Depending on the amount of nanocellulose, nanofibrous nanocellulose/PAN meshes revealed large variations in tensile modulus (90-273 MPa) and yield strength (1.0-2.5 MPa), whereas the fiber diameter, air permeability, air resistance, mesh porosity, and water absorption were less affected. V C 2017Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2018, 135, 45772.

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Synthetic and Biological Multifunctional Smart Materials Applications to Lower Extremity Gait Systems

Shahinpoor

2017

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Toward nano-biomimetic muscles: polyacrylonitrile nanofibers

Cited by 4 publications

References 13 publications

An investigation of electrochemomechanical actuation of conductive Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofiber composites

An investigation of electrochemomechanical actuation of conductive Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofiber composites

Effect of nanocrystalline cellulose addition on needleless alternating current electrospinning and properties of nanofibrous polyacrylonitrile meshes

Synthetic and Biological Multifunctional Smart Materials Applications to Lower Extremity Gait Systems

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