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Updated: Mar 8, 2026

A Fabrication Method for Highly Stretchable Conductors with Silver Nanowires

A Fabrication Method for Highly Stretchable Conductors with Silver Nanowires

Published on: January 21, 2016

Soft electrothermal actuators using silver nanowire heaters.

Shanshan Yao¹, Jianxun Cui¹, Zheng Cui¹

¹Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA. yong_zhu@ncsu.edu.

|January 31, 2017

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Flexible silver nanowire bimorph actuators achieve record bending at low voltage. These novel electrothermal actuators enable biomimetic robots for manipulation and locomotion tasks.

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Area of Science:

Materials Science
Robotics
Nanotechnology

Background:

Electrothermal bimorph actuators are crucial for soft robotics.
Existing actuators often require high voltages or lack flexibility.
Developing low-voltage, highly flexible actuators is essential for advanced applications.

Purpose of the Study:

To fabricate and characterize novel, low-voltage, and highly flexible electrothermal bimorph actuators.
To demonstrate the potential of these actuators in biomimetic robotics.

Main Methods:

Fabrication of bimorph actuators using flexible silver nanowire (AgNW) based heaters.
Characterization of heating rate, bending performance, and actuation voltage.
Demonstration of actuator applications in a crawling robot and a soft gripper.

Main Results:

Achieved a fast heating rate (18 °C s⁻¹) and stable heating performance.
Obtained the largest bending angle (720°) and curvature (2.6 cm⁻¹) at a very low actuation voltage (0.2 V sq⁻¹ or 4.5 V).
Demonstrated complex shape configurations and successful applications in robotics.

Conclusions:

The developed AgNW-based bimorph actuators represent a significant advancement in soft actuator technology.
Their low-voltage operation, high flexibility, and large actuation enable new possibilities for biomimetic robots.
This scalable fabrication process offers a promising route for future soft robotic systems.