Low-voltage soft robots based on carbon nanotube/polymer electrothermal composites
Qi Wang(王琪)1, Ying-Qiong Yong(雍颖琼)2, and Zhi-Ming Bai(白智明)1,†
1 School of Civil and Resource Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China; 2 R&D Department, China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, Beijing 100076, China
Abstract Nowadays, soft robots have become a research hot spot due to high degree of freedom, adaptability to the environment and safer interaction with humans. The carbon nanotube (CNT)/polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) electrothermal composites have attracted wide attention in the field of flexible actuations due to large deformation at low voltages. Here, the preparation process of CNT/PDMS composites was designed and optimized, and electrothermal actuators (ETAs) were fabricated by cutting the CNT/PDMS composite films into a "U" shape and coating conductive adhesive. The deformation performance of the ETAs with different thicknesses at different voltages was studied. At a low voltage of about 7 V, the ETA has a deformation rate of up to 93%. Finally, two kinds of electrothermal soft robots (ETSRs) with four-legged and three-legged structures were fabricated, and their inchworm-like motion characteristics were studied. The ETSR2 has the best motion performance due to the moderate thickness and three-legged electrode structure.
Fund: Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51602021) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, China (Grant No. FRF-TP-18-023A2).
Corresponding Authors:
Zhi-Ming Bai
E-mail: baizhiming2008@126.com
Cite this article:
Qi Wang(王琪), Ying-Qiong Yong(雍颖琼), and Zhi-Ming Bai(白智明) Low-voltage soft robots based on carbon nanotube/polymer electrothermal composites 2022 Chin. Phys. B 31 128801
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