Robust thermoelastic microactuator based on an organic molecular crystal

Yulong Duan, Sergey Semin, Paul Tinnemans, Herma Cuppen, Jialiang Xu () and Theo Rasing ()
Additional contact information
Yulong Duan: Radboud University, Institute for Molecules and Materials (IMM)
Sergey Semin: Radboud University, Institute for Molecules and Materials (IMM)
Paul Tinnemans: Radboud University, Institute for Molecules and Materials (IMM)
Herma Cuppen: Radboud University, Institute for Molecules and Materials (IMM)
Jialiang Xu: Nankai University
Theo Rasing: Radboud University, Institute for Molecules and Materials (IMM)

Nature Communications, 2019, vol. 10, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract Mechanically responsive molecular crystals that reversibly change shape triggered by external stimuli are invaluable for the design of actuators for soft robotics, artificial muscles and microfluidic devices. However, their strong deformations usually lead to their destruction. We report a fluorenone derivative (4-DBpFO) showing a strong shear deformation upon heating due to a structural phase transition which is reproducible after more than hundred heating/cooling cycles. Molecular dynamic simulations show that the transition occurs through a nucleation-and-growth mechanism, triggered by thermally induced rotations of the phenyl rings, leading to a rearrangement of the molecular configuration. The applicability as actuator is demonstrated by displacing a micron-sized glass bead over a large distance, delivering a kinetic energy of more than 65 pJ, corresponding to a work density of 270 J kg−1. This material can serve as a prototype structure to direct the development of new types of robust molecular actuators.

Date: 2019
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-12601-y Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:10:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-019-12601-y

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-12601-y

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().