Preparation And Application Of Polymer-based Flexible Optical/Electric Actuator Based On Carbon Nanocomposites

Soft actuator that can response external environment stimulation(light,electricity,light,humidity,magnetism,etc.),convert external energy into mechanical energy output and produce a specific mechanical response.The actuators have many advantages such as strong adaptability and simple structure,and can be used in soft robots,artificial muscles,smart devices and other fields.At present,the manufacturing process of most soft actuators is complicated.Meanwhile the actuator can respond single external stimuli and the mechanical properties are poor.In this work,the soft actuator structure was designed to respond to a variety of external stimulus source and produce rapid and large deformation,and achieve good mechanical performance.Firstly,the preparation,electro-deformation and photo-deformation properties of the carbon nanotube polymer composite/graphene bimorph actuator were studied,and the bionic applications of the soft actuator was also designed.Graphene film(rGO)was prepared by drop coating method and reduction method,and the anisotropic carbon nanotube composite polymer film(CNT-PDMS)was prepared by scraping coating method.CNT-PDMS/rGO bimorph actuator was prepared by compounding rGO film and CNT-PDMS composite film with polyacrylate.And the actuator can produce large deformation and output large mechanical force under electrical/optical stimulation.The good performance of actuator is attributed to the photothermal conversion performance of CNT/rGO,the conductivity of rGO and the thermal expansion of polymer.Through the analysis of the deformation and mechanical properties of the actuator,the bionic "Eagle Claw",bionic flower and intelligent window were designed,and also designed a soft robot to simulate the flapping wing movement of seagull.Secondly,the Ag NPs/PE bimorph actuator was prepared by coating silver nanoparticles on the surface of PE film.The electric deformation and photo deformation properties of the actuator were also investigated.The actuator can produce large bending deformation(deformation angle > 400°)rapidly under electrical/optical stimulation,it is accompanied by oscillatory motion.The excellent driving performance and oscillating motion are attributed to the good conductivity property,remarkable photothermal conversion and surface plasmon resonance of Ag NPs,as well as the thermal expansion of PE film.A crawling robot was designed based on the advantages of large deformation of the Ag NPs/PE bimorph actuator.