Graphene Fibers with Predetermined Deformation as Moisture-Triggered Actuators and Robots

摘要

Smart materials and structures with fast, reversible, controllable shape changes in response to environmental stimuli have attracted tremendous attention due to their remarkable potential in applications ranging from robots and sensors to memory chips. Although it poses a considerable challenge, responsive behavior, especially in a predefined fashion, has become a key function for advanced artificial actuating and shape-memory structures and devices. Graphene-based structures exhibit many exciting properties that could benefit such actuation systems. In this context, we have constructed electrochemical actuators based on unimorph and bilayer graphene films, and three-dimensional graphene skeletons. However, most of these aforementioned actuators are based on simple displacement or deformation, and do not display sophisticated motion and precise shape control in a predefined manner.