Polydopamine-Coated Main-Chain Liquid Crystal Elastomer as Optically Driven Artificial Muscle
Polydopamine-Coated Main-Chain Liquid Crystal Elastomer as Optically Driven Artificial Muscle
复制标题
聚多巴胺涂层主链液晶弹性体作为光驱动人造肌肉
DOI：
10.1021/acsami.8b00639
复制
发表时间：
2018-03-07
影响因子：
9.5
通讯作者：
Cai, Shengqiang
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Tian, Hongmiao;Wang, Zhijian;Cai, Shengqiang
光驱动活性材料因其变形和运动可以以非接触方式远程、即时、精确地控制而受到广泛关注。在这项研究中，我们研究了一种具有快速响应的光驱动弹性体：聚多巴胺（PDA）涂层液晶弹性体（LCE）。由于 PDA 涂层的光热效应和 LCE 的热响应性，弹性体薄膜在近红外 (NIR) 照射下显着收缩。在固定应变的情况下，薄膜中的光致驱动应力可高达 1.5 MPa，明显高于大多数哺乳动物骨骼肌产生的最大应力（0.35 MPa）。涂有 PDA 的 LCE 薄膜还可以通过近红外激光的表面扫描来弯曲或卷起。该薄膜对光照的响应时间可短至1/10秒，与哺乳动物骨骼肌的响应时间相当甚至更快。使用 PDA 涂层 LCE 薄膜，我们设计并制造了一个机器人游泳者的原型，该机器人游泳者能够通过近红外激光诱导和控制的可逆弯曲和直立运动来执行“游泳动作”，从而在水-空气界面附近游泳。本研究的结果清楚地表明，PDA 涂层的 LCE 是一种有前途的光学驱动人造肌肉，在软机器人和光机耦合设备的应用中可能具有巨大的潜力。
Optically driven active materials have received much attention because their deformation and motion can be controlled remotely, instantly, and precisely in a contactless way. In this study, we investigated an optically actuated elastomer with rapid response: polydopamine (PDA)-coated liquid crystal elastomer (LCE). Because of the photothermal effect of PDA coating and thermal responsiveness of LCE, the elastomer film contracted significantly with near-infrared (NIR) irradiation. With a fixed strain, light-induced actuating stress in the film could be as large as 1.5 MPa, significantly higher than the maximum stress generated by most mammalian skeletal muscle (0.35 MPa). The PDA-coated LCE films could also bend or roll up by surface scanning of an NIR laser. The response time of the film to light exposure could be as short as 1/10 of a second, comparable to or even faster than that of mammalian skeletal muscle. Using the PDA-coated LCE film, we designed and fabricated a prototype of robotic swimmer that was able to swim near the water air interface by performing "swimming strokes" through reversible bending and unbending motions induced and controlled by an NIR laser. The results presented in this study clearly demonstrated that PDA-coated LCE is a promising optically driven artificial muscle, which may have great potential for applications of soft robotics and optomechanical coupling devices.