English
 
Help Privacy Policy Disclaimer
  Advanced SearchBrowse

Item

ITEM ACTIONSEXPORT
Add to Basket
  Local TagsRelease HistoryDetailsSummary

Released
Journal Article

Overcoming Water Diffusion Limitations in Hydrogels via Microtubular Graphene Networks for Soft Actuators

MPS-Authors
/persons/resource/persons265934

Shaygan Nia,  Ali
Department of Synthetic Materials and Functional Devices (SMFD), Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics, Max Planck Society;

/persons/resource/persons47863

Feng,  Xinliang       
Department of Synthetic Materials and Functional Devices (SMFD), Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics, Max Planck Society;

External Resource

https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202302816
(Publisher version)

Fulltext (restricted access)
There are currently no full texts shared for your IP range.
Fulltext (public)

Advanced Materials - 2023 - Hauck.pdf
(Publisher version), 6MB

Supplementary Material (public)
There is no public supplementary material available
Citation

Hauck, M., Saure, L. M., Zeller‐Plumhoff, B., Kaps, S., Hammel, J., Mohr, C., et al. (2023). Overcoming Water Diffusion Limitations in Hydrogels via Microtubular Graphene Networks for Soft Actuators. Advanced Materials, 35(41): 2302816. doi:10.1002/adma.202302816.


Cite as: https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-000D-A5BD-4
Abstract
Hydrogel-based soft actuators can operate in sensitive environments, bridging the gap of rigid machines interacting with soft matter. However, while stimuli-responsive hydrogels can undergo extreme reversible volume changes of up to ≈90%, water transport in hydrogel actuators is in general limited by their poroelastic behavior. For poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) the actuation performance is even further compromised by the formation of a dense skin layer. Here it is shown, that incorporating a bioinspired microtube graphene network into a PNIPAM matrix with a total porosity of only 5.4% dramatically enhances actuation dynamics by up to ≈400% and actuation stress by ≈4000% without sacrificing the mechanical stability, overcoming the water transport limitations. The graphene network provides both untethered light-controlled and electrically powered actuation. It is anticipated that the concept provides a versatile platform for enhancing the functionality of soft matter by combining responsive and 2D materials, paving the way toward designing soft intelligent matter.