Bioinspired Stimuli-Responsive Materials for Soft Actuators
Biological species can walk, swim, fly, jump, and climb with fast response speeds and motion complexity. These remarkable functions are accomplished by means of soft actuation organisms, which are commonly composed of muscle tissue systems. To achieve the creation of their biomimetic artificial coun...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2024-02-01
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| Series: | Biomimetics |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2313-7673/9/3/128 |
| _version_ | 1797241917084270592 |
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| author | Zhongbao Wang Yixin Chen Yuan Ma Jing Wang |
| author_facet | Zhongbao Wang Yixin Chen Yuan Ma Jing Wang |
| author_sort | Zhongbao Wang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Biological species can walk, swim, fly, jump, and climb with fast response speeds and motion complexity. These remarkable functions are accomplished by means of soft actuation organisms, which are commonly composed of muscle tissue systems. To achieve the creation of their biomimetic artificial counterparts, various biomimetic stimuli-responsive materials have been synthesized and developed in recent decades. They can respond to various external stimuli in the form of structural or morphological transformations by actively or passively converting input energy into mechanical energy. They are the core element of soft actuators for typical smart devices like soft robots, artificial muscles, intelligent sensors and nanogenerators. Significant progress has been made in the development of bioinspired stimuli-responsive materials. However, these materials have not been comprehensively summarized with specific actuation mechanisms in the literature. In this review, we will discuss recent advances in biomimetic stimuli-responsive materials that are instrumental for soft actuators. Firstly, different stimuli-responsive principles for soft actuators are discussed, including fluidic, electrical, thermal, magnetic, light, and chemical stimuli. We further summarize the state-of-the-art stimuli-responsive materials for soft actuators and explore the advantages and disadvantages of using electroactive polymers, magnetic soft composites, photo-thermal responsive polymers, shape memory alloys and other responsive soft materials. Finally, we provide a critical outlook on the field of stimuli-responsive soft actuators and emphasize the challenges in the process of their implementation to various industries. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T18:30:56Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2786122e41f74ed8b4357c279c379db4 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2313-7673 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T18:30:56Z |
| publishDate | 2024-02-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Biomimetics |
| spelling | doaj.art-2786122e41f74ed8b4357c279c379db42024-03-27T13:27:35ZengMDPI AGBiomimetics2313-76732024-02-019312810.3390/biomimetics9030128Bioinspired Stimuli-Responsive Materials for Soft ActuatorsZhongbao Wang0Yixin Chen1Yuan Ma2Jing Wang3State Key Laboratory of Mechanical System and Vibration, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Mechanical System and Vibration, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, ChinaDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Research Institute for Intelligent Wearable Systems, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong 999077, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Mechanical System and Vibration, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, ChinaBiological species can walk, swim, fly, jump, and climb with fast response speeds and motion complexity. These remarkable functions are accomplished by means of soft actuation organisms, which are commonly composed of muscle tissue systems. To achieve the creation of their biomimetic artificial counterparts, various biomimetic stimuli-responsive materials have been synthesized and developed in recent decades. They can respond to various external stimuli in the form of structural or morphological transformations by actively or passively converting input energy into mechanical energy. They are the core element of soft actuators for typical smart devices like soft robots, artificial muscles, intelligent sensors and nanogenerators. Significant progress has been made in the development of bioinspired stimuli-responsive materials. However, these materials have not been comprehensively summarized with specific actuation mechanisms in the literature. In this review, we will discuss recent advances in biomimetic stimuli-responsive materials that are instrumental for soft actuators. Firstly, different stimuli-responsive principles for soft actuators are discussed, including fluidic, electrical, thermal, magnetic, light, and chemical stimuli. We further summarize the state-of-the-art stimuli-responsive materials for soft actuators and explore the advantages and disadvantages of using electroactive polymers, magnetic soft composites, photo-thermal responsive polymers, shape memory alloys and other responsive soft materials. Finally, we provide a critical outlook on the field of stimuli-responsive soft actuators and emphasize the challenges in the process of their implementation to various industries.https://www.mdpi.com/2313-7673/9/3/128bioinspired actuatorssoft robotsstimuli-responsive materialssmart materials |
| spellingShingle | Zhongbao Wang Yixin Chen Yuan Ma Jing Wang Bioinspired Stimuli-Responsive Materials for Soft Actuators Biomimetics bioinspired actuators soft robots stimuli-responsive materials smart materials |
| title | Bioinspired Stimuli-Responsive Materials for Soft Actuators |
| title_full | Bioinspired Stimuli-Responsive Materials for Soft Actuators |
| title_fullStr | Bioinspired Stimuli-Responsive Materials for Soft Actuators |
| title_full_unstemmed | Bioinspired Stimuli-Responsive Materials for Soft Actuators |
| title_short | Bioinspired Stimuli-Responsive Materials for Soft Actuators |
| title_sort | bioinspired stimuli responsive materials for soft actuators |
| topic | bioinspired actuators soft robots stimuli-responsive materials smart materials |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2313-7673/9/3/128 |
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