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Updated: Nov 9, 2025

Fabrication of Carbon-Based Ionic Electromechanically Active Soft Actuators

Fabrication of Carbon-Based Ionic Electromechanically Active Soft Actuators

Published on: April 25, 2020

Bioinspired Soft Microactuators.

Pingan Zhu^1,2,3, Rifei Chen^1,4, Chunmei Zhou^1,3

¹Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 999077, China.

Advanced Materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.)

|April 16, 2021

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Researchers developed novel soft microactuators inspired by sea cucumbers and climbing plants. These actuators offer significant improvements in miniaturization, property contrast, and mechanical work for advanced soft robotics applications.

Keywords:

bioinspiration high property contrast hygroscopic materials microactuators programmable materials actuation

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Last Updated: Nov 9, 2025

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Area of Science:

Robotics
Materials Science
Biomimetics

Background:

Soft actuators hold promise for robotics but face challenges in miniaturization, property contrast, actuation force, and shape transformation.
Existing soft actuators struggle to meet the demands for high-performance, versatile robotic applications.

Purpose of the Study:

To address the limitations of current soft actuators by developing a new class of microactuators.
To achieve simultaneous miniaturization, high property contrast, significant actuation, and diverse shape transformations in soft microactuators.

Main Methods:

Synergistic utilization of structural concepts from sea cucumber dermis and climbing plant tendrils.
Microfluidic fabrication of diatomite-laden hygroscopically responsive fibers.
Incorporation of a discontinuous ribbon of stiff, asymmetrically shaped, hygroscopically inactive microparticles.

Main Results:

Microactuators exhibit high property contrast ratios (20-850) between hydrated and dehydrated states.
Achieved energy density, actuation strain, and actuation stress exceeding natural muscle by approximately 4, >2, and >30 times, respectively.
Demonstrated a weight-lifting ratio 2-3 orders of magnitude higher than recent hygroscopic actuators.

Conclusions:

The developed microactuators offer a novel and generalizable approach for designing next-generation soft microactuators.
This advancement significantly contributes to the field of soft robotics by enabling tailored deformable elements for specific applications.