TY - GEN
T1 - COST-EFFECTIVE SOFT ACTUATORS USING NAFION™ AND CARBON NANOTUBE ELECTRODES
AU - Wechter, Benjamin
AU - Gushue, Nicholas
AU - Reilly, Luke
AU - Rutka, Maxwell
AU - Kennedy, Ryan
AU - Mahon, Jacob
AU - Xue, Wei
AU - Trkov, Mitja
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by ASME.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - We present the fabrication and characterization of a cost-effective soft actuator capable of bidirectional cantilevered bending in ambientconditions when an electric potentialof4 V is applied. The fabrication procedure is straightforward, minimizes the use of toxic chemicals, and can be executed with common lab equipment. The resulting actuator has a tri-layer construction consisting of a strip of Nafion-117 membrane sandwiched between two multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) buckypaper electrodes. The buckypaper fabrication was optimized via investigating various combinations of solvents, surfactant, MWCNT concentrations, and layered filtrations, leading to highly conductive and strong buckypaper electrodes. The resultingbuckypaper electrodehadanelectrical resistance of about 10 Ω, which is similar to an industrially synthesizedbuckypaper. Aftersaturating the actuator inan ionic liquidBMIMBF4 (C8H15BF4N2)and applyinga lowvoltage toits electrodes, the actuator responds by bending toward the anode during a period of 20 seconds. The results showed that our 50 mm long actuator (mounted witha cantilevered lengthof40 mm) achieved a maximumtip displacement of28 mm (strain of0.70) and a tip blocking force of0.98 mN.
AB - We present the fabrication and characterization of a cost-effective soft actuator capable of bidirectional cantilevered bending in ambientconditions when an electric potentialof4 V is applied. The fabrication procedure is straightforward, minimizes the use of toxic chemicals, and can be executed with common lab equipment. The resulting actuator has a tri-layer construction consisting of a strip of Nafion-117 membrane sandwiched between two multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) buckypaper electrodes. The buckypaper fabrication was optimized via investigating various combinations of solvents, surfactant, MWCNT concentrations, and layered filtrations, leading to highly conductive and strong buckypaper electrodes. The resultingbuckypaper electrodehadanelectrical resistance of about 10 Ω, which is similar to an industrially synthesizedbuckypaper. Aftersaturating the actuator inan ionic liquidBMIMBF4 (C8H15BF4N2)and applyinga lowvoltage toits electrodes, the actuator responds by bending toward the anode during a period of 20 seconds. The results showed that our 50 mm long actuator (mounted witha cantilevered lengthof40 mm) achieved a maximumtip displacement of28 mm (strain of0.70) and a tip blocking force of0.98 mN.
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U2 - 10.1115/IMECE2022-95669
DO - 10.1115/IMECE2022-95669
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85148322721
T3 - ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, Proceedings (IMECE)
BT - Mechanics of Solids, Structures, and Fluids; Micro- and Nano-Systems Engineering and Packaging; Safety Engineering, Risk, and Reliability Analysis; Research Posters
PB - American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
T2 - ASME 2022 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, IMECE 2022
Y2 - 30 October 2022 through 3 November 2022
ER -