An instant multi-responsive porous polymer actuator driven by solvent molecule sorption

Qiang Zhao, John W. C. Dunlop, Xunlin Qiu, Feihe Huang, Zibin Zhang, Jan Heyda, Joachim Dzubiella, Markus Antonietti and Jiayin Yuan ()
Additional contact information
Qiang Zhao: Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces
John W. C. Dunlop: Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces
Xunlin Qiu: University of Potsdam
Feihe Huang: State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, Zhejiang University
Zibin Zhang: State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, Zhejiang University
Jan Heyda: Soft Matter and Functional Materials, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin
Joachim Dzubiella: Soft Matter and Functional Materials, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin
Markus Antonietti: Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces
Jiayin Yuan: Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces

Nature Communications, 2014, vol. 5, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract Fast actuation speed, large-shape deformation and robust responsiveness are critical to synthetic soft actuators. A simultaneous optimization of all these aspects without trade-offs remains unresolved. Here we describe porous polymer actuators that bend in response to acetone vapour (24 kPa, 20 °C) at a speed of an order of magnitude faster than the state-of-the-art, coupled with a large-scale locomotion. They are meanwhile multi-responsive towards a variety of organic vapours in both the dry and wet states, thus distinctive from the traditional gel actuation systems that become inactive when dried. The actuator is easy-to-make and survives even after hydrothermal processing (200 °C, 24 h) and pressing-pressure (100 MPa) treatments. In addition, the beneficial responsiveness is transferable, being able to turn ‘inert’ objects into actuators through surface coating. This advanced actuator arises from the unique combination of porous morphology, gradient structure and the interaction between solvent molecules and actuator materials.

Date: 2014
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms5293 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:5:y:2014:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms5293

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

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms5293

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 ().