4D Printing Light-Driven Soft Actuators Based on Liquid-Vapor Phase Transition Composites with Inherent Sensing Capability

基于具有传感能力的液-汽相变复合材料的 4D 打印光驱动柔性执行器

Yingchun Shao, Fei Long, Zihui Zhao, Mingquan Fang, Huilan Jing, Jianjun Guo, Xiaolu Shi, Aihua Sun*, Gaojie Xu,  Yuchuan Cheng*

邵迎春，龙菲，赵自辉，方明权，景慧澜，郭建军，时晓露，孙爱华*，许高杰，程昱川*

全文下载：Chemical Enineering Journal, 2023, 454(2), 140271

Abstract

    本文提出了一种使用硅橡胶、石墨烯和低沸点液体（甲醇）制造高性能光响应液-气相变弹性体（PRPTE）的新策略，将光热驱动和压电式压力/应变传感集成到单一材料中。这种材料表现出卓越的承载性能，可以举起自身重量的 400 倍。PRPTE 墨水具有优良的可打印性，我们利用多材料 3D 打印技术制备了多种无绳柔性执行器，实现弯曲、抓取和爬行等光驱动程序化运动。此外，通过监测执行器的电容信号，执行器的运动状态可得到实时反馈和控制。

Soft robots capable of responding to different actuation schemes are flourishing due to the appealing advantages of being highly flexible and adaptive to complex environments. However, it remains challenging to produce untether soft actuators that can sense their own motions. Herein, a novel photo-responsive liquid–vapor phase transition composite with integrated actuating and sensing performances is proposed. The composite is operated based on the principle that piezocapacitive sensing and liquid–vapor phase transition are caused by the photothermal effect of the embedded graphene plate. The composite exhibits superior and tunable optically responsive and self-sensing properties. As a proof of concept, the muscle-like actuator with effective actuating and real-time sensing feedback functions is produced. Furthermore, several “Janus” bilayer untethered actuators are fabricated via 3D printing, which can achieve a variety of light-driven programmed locomotion, such as bending, grasping, and crawling. This work holds great promise for designing and fabricating soft robots with integrated self-sensing capacity.