FIELD-DRIVEN GEL ACTUATOR WITH LOCOMOTION IN AIR

摘要

@@An electromechanical gel, which could be driven in air by a DC electric field was developed using poly (vinyl alcohol)/dimethylsulfoxide (PVA/DMSO) gel. When the applied electric field exceeds a certain threshold, the gel exhibited a continuous and linear crawling motion. The result indicated that, under the applied electric field of 275 V/mm, the maximum crawling velocity of the gel could reach v=1.63 mm/s, which is about 80 times larger than that reported in earlier works. At a proper range of the driving time, the average crawling speed and crawling direction could be well controlled by the external electric field.