Stimuli-Responsive Composites for Advanced Sensors and Actuators

在过去的25年里，机器人领域取得了令人难以置信的进步，在制造、太空探索和医疗康复等学科产生了影响。硬件开发的下一个阶段是专注于实现模拟生物有机体的软材料。软材料具有感知和响应环境的能力，在各种机器人设备中正越来越多地取代传统材料。除了软机器人技术，这些系统的应用还包括可穿戴电子设备(用于监测人类健康)和可以在复杂环境中执行编程任务的自主系统。要实现这些应用，需要柔软、廉价、可弯曲和灵活的传感器和执行器(移动部件)。由硬质金属制成的传统电子和机器人部件不是一个选择。 聚合物表现出一些软机器人和电子产品所需的特征：它们柔软而灵活，它们的化学性质可以调整，并且可以使用各种技术进行加工。由生物来源生产的生物聚合物比以石油为基础的材料更环保，而且它们可以是生物兼容的和/或可降解的。为了赋予聚合物和生物聚合物用于软测量和执行器所需的功能，它们可以与纳米材料结合形成聚合物纳米复合材料。这些纳米材料具有独特的化学、光学和电子性质；其中一些性质对当地环境的变化高度敏感。 这项研究计划的目的是开发能够感知周围环境变化并经历性能变化的材料。主要有两个主题：(1)开发用于化学传感的刺激响应复合材料，(2)设计对光响应形状发生可逆变化的材料。为了开发所提出的材料和器件，关键是要研究和控制这些材料的混合和图案化如何影响(1)纳米粒子在聚合物中的排列和(2)由此产生的复合材料的性能(物理、化学和电子)。我将开发新的策略，将纳米颗粒性质的局部变化转化为可测量和可读的电信号和/或机械变形。我将继续设计技术和加工方法，在宏观尺度上设计这些材料的图案，同时控制聚合物中颗粒的排列，并将这些材料集成到设备中。将展示的功能设备在智能系统、软机器人和生物医学材料中有应用。 将对2名博士生、2名硕士研究生、1名博士后和5名本科生进行先进材料和制造技能培训。他们将使用我的实验室和艾伯塔大学纳米加工设施的工具获得制造和分析技能。

Over the last 25 years, the field of robotics has made incredible strides, with impact in disciplines including manufacturing, space exploration, and medical rehabilitation. The next phase in hardware development is focused on implementing soft' materials that mimic biological organisms. Soft materials with the ability to both sense and respond to their environments are increasingly replacing conventional materials in a variety of robotic devices. Beyond soft robotics, applications of these systems include wearable electronic devices (to monitor human health) and autonomous systems that can perform programmed tasks in complex environments. To bring these applications to life, soft, inexpensive, bendable and flexible sensors and actuators (moving parts) are needed. Conventional electronic and robotic components which are made of rigid metals are not an option. Polymers exhibit some desirable features for soft robotics and electronics; they are soft and flexible, their chemical properties can be tuned, and they can be processed using a variety of techniques. Biopolymers which are produced from biological sources are more environmentally-friendly than oil-based materials, and they can be biocompatible and/or degradable. To bestow polymers and biopolymers with the functionality needed for use in soft sensors and actuators, they can be combined with nanomaterials to form polymer nanocomposites. These nanomaterials have unique chemical, optical, and electronic properties; some of these properties are highly sensitive to changes in the local environments. The purpose of this research program is to develop materials that can sense changes in their surroundings and undergo changes in properties. There are two main themes: (1) to develop stimuli-responsive composites for chemical sensing, and (2) to engineer materials that undergo a reversible change in shape in response to light. To develop the proposed materials and devices, it is critical to study and control how mixing and patterning these materials affects (1) the arrangement of nanoparticles in the polymer and (2) the resulting properties (physical, chemical, and electronic) of the composite. I will develop novel strategies to translate local changes in nanoparticle properties into measurable and readable electrical signals and/or mechanical deformation. I will continue to design techniques and processing methods to pattern these materials on the macroscale while controlling the arrangement of the particles within the polymer, and I will integrate these materials in devices. The functional devices that will be demonstrated have applications in intelligent systems, soft robotics, and biomedical materials. 2 PhD students, 2 MSc students, 1 postdoctoral fellow and 5 undergraduate students will be trained with skills in advanced materials and manufacturing. They will gain fabrication and analysis skills using the tools both in my lab and at the U of Alberta Nanofabrication Facility.