TY - JOUR
T1 - Tailoring conductive nanofiller alignment for high actuation strain and output force in electroactive polymers
AU - Zhao, Fengwan
AU - Zhang, Jie
AU - Tian, Hongmiao
AU - Zhu, Ruiyao
AU - Sun, Leyi
AU - Dou, Wencong
AU - Chen, Hansen
AU - Ye, Zuo Guang
AU - Yi, Chenglin
AU - Chen, Xiaoming
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2025.
PY - 2025/12
Y1 - 2025/12
N2 - An intrinsic conflict between high deformability and rigidity hinders the development of electroactive polymer (EAP)-based soft robots. Here, we employ an external electric field to align Al2O3-coated carbon nanotubes (Al2O3@CNTs) in a poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene-chlorotrifluoroethylene) (P(VDF-TrFE-CTFE)) matrix. Compared with pure P(VDF-TrFE-CTFE), the thickness strain of nanocomposites with horizontally and vertically aligned Al2O3@CNTs increases by 473% and 814%, respectively. It results in a high bending angle up to 215° for their actuator beams. Importantly, the horizontally aligned Al2O3@CNTs enhance the local stiffness via ‘face-enhanced effect’, yielding a high output force per unit volume (1.25 mN/mm3 at 30 V/μm). It is not only ~346% higher than pure P(VDF-TrFE-CTFE) but also higher than the reported ceramic actuators. Accordingly, the soft robots made by the designed nanocomposite actuators could climb slopes up to 52° and carry loads equivalent to eight times their body mass. Consequently, this modulating strategy develops a high-performance actuation for soft robots.
AB - An intrinsic conflict between high deformability and rigidity hinders the development of electroactive polymer (EAP)-based soft robots. Here, we employ an external electric field to align Al2O3-coated carbon nanotubes (Al2O3@CNTs) in a poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene-chlorotrifluoroethylene) (P(VDF-TrFE-CTFE)) matrix. Compared with pure P(VDF-TrFE-CTFE), the thickness strain of nanocomposites with horizontally and vertically aligned Al2O3@CNTs increases by 473% and 814%, respectively. It results in a high bending angle up to 215° for their actuator beams. Importantly, the horizontally aligned Al2O3@CNTs enhance the local stiffness via ‘face-enhanced effect’, yielding a high output force per unit volume (1.25 mN/mm3 at 30 V/μm). It is not only ~346% higher than pure P(VDF-TrFE-CTFE) but also higher than the reported ceramic actuators. Accordingly, the soft robots made by the designed nanocomposite actuators could climb slopes up to 52° and carry loads equivalent to eight times their body mass. Consequently, this modulating strategy develops a high-performance actuation for soft robots.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105022600003
U2 - 10.1038/s41467-025-65228-7
DO - 10.1038/s41467-025-65228-7
M3 - 文章
C2 - 41271742
AN - SCOPUS:105022600003
SN - 2041-1723
VL - 16
JO - Nature Communications
JF - Nature Communications
IS - 1
M1 - 10301
ER -