Biomimetic high performance artificial muscle built on sacrificial coordination network and mechanical training process

作者：Tu, Zhikai; Liu, Weifeng^*; Wang, Jin; Qiu, Xueqing^*; Huang, Jinhao; Li, Jinxing; Lou, Hongming

来源：Nature Communications, 2021, 12(1): 2916.

DOI：10.1038/s41467-021-23204-x

• TOUGHENING ELASTOMERS
• SHAPE
• CRYSTALLIZATION
• MULTIPLE
• MORPHOLOGY
• ACTUATORS
• HYDROGELS
• LIGNIN

Artificial muscle materials promise incredible applications in actuators, robotics and medical apparatus, yet the ability to mimic the full characteristics of skeletal muscles into synthetic materials remains a huge challenge. Herein, inspired by the dynamic sacrificial bonds in biomaterials and the self-strengthening of skeletal muscles by physical exercise, high performance artificial muscle material is prepared by rearrangement of sacrificial coordination bonds in the polyolefin elastomer via a repetitive mechanical training process. Biomass lignin is incorporated as a green reinforcer for the construction of interfacial coordination bonds. The prepared artificial muscle material exhibits high actuation strain (>40%), high actuation stress (1.5MPa) which can lift more than 10,000 times its own weight with 30% strain, characteristics of excellent self-strengthening by mechanical training, strain-adaptive stiffening, and heat/electric programmable actuation performance. In this work, we show a facile strategy for the fabrication of intelligent materials using easily available raw materials. Artificial muscles have a wide range of applications yet truly mimetic designs remain a challenge. Here, the authors use dynamic sacrificial bonds which are rearranged via a mechanical training process to optimise the characteristics of self-strengthening, strain-adaptive stiffening and actuation.

• 单位
  广东工业大学