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Bioinspired Soft Robot with Incorporated Microelectrodes
Published on: February 28, 2020
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High-Performance Hierarchical Black-Phosphorous-Based Soft Electrochemical Actuators in Bioinspired Applications
Guan Wu1, Xingjiang Wu1, Yijun Xu2
1State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, College of Chemical Engineering, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals and Functional Polymer Materials, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing, 210009, P. R. China.
Advanced Materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.)
|April 24, 2019
Summary
Researchers developed a novel electrochemical actuator using black phosphorus and carbon nanotubes. This bioinspired device achieves high performance and enables applications like artificial claws and wings.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Electrochemistry
- Robotics
Background:
- Controllable artificial actuators are crucial for engineering and chemistry.
- Current actuators face challenges in achieving large deformation, fast response times, and efficient ion diffusion.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a novel electrochemical actuator with enhanced electromechanical performance.
- To explore biomimetic applications of the new actuator.
Main Methods:
- Fabrication of hierarchically structured covalently bridged black phosphorous/carbon nanotubes.
- Characterization of electromechanical properties, including strain, response time, power, and energy densities.
- Demonstration of bioinspired applications.
Main Results:
- The actuator exhibited low power consumption (0.04 W cm-2 %-1) and high peak-to-peak strain (1.67%).
- It demonstrated fast response rates (11.57% s-1 strain, 28.48 MPa s-1 stress) and high power (29.11 kW m-3) and energy (8.48 kJ m-3) densities.
- The material showed excellent cycling stability (500,000 cycles) and high electrochemical capacitance (321.4 F g-1).
Conclusions:
- The hierarchically structured material enables efficient ion diffusion and high performance.
- The novel actuator is suitable for various bioinspired applications, including artificial claws and robotic wings.
- This work paves the way for next-generation electrochemical actuators.
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