Chen Luzhuo, Weng Mingcen, Zhang Wei, Zhou Zhiwei, Zhou Yi, Xia Dan, Li Jiaxin, Huang Zhigao, Liu Changhong, Fan Shoushan
Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Quantum Manipulation and New Energy Materials, College of Physics and Energy, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, 350007, China.
Tsinghua-Foxconn Nanotechnology Research Center and Department of Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China.
Nanoscale. 2016 Mar 28;8(12):6877-83. doi: 10.1039/c5nr07237a.
Transparent actuators have been attracting emerging interest recently, as they demonstrate potential applications in the fields of invisible robots, tactical displays, variable-focus lenses, and flexible cellular phones. However, previous technologies did not simultaneously realize macroscopic transparent actuators with advantages of large-shape deformation, low-voltage-driven actuation and fast fabrication. Here, we develop a fast approach to fabricate a high-performance transparent actuator based on single-layer superaligned carbon nanotube sheet and polymer composites. Various advantages of single-layer nanotube sheets including high transparency, considerable conductivity, and ultra-thin dimensions together with selected polymer materials completely realize all the above required advantages. Also, this is the first time that a single-layer nanotube sheet has been used to fabricate actuators with high transparency, avoiding the structural damage to the single-layer nanotube sheet. The transparent actuator shows a transmittance of 72% at the wavelength of 550 nm and bends remarkably with a curvature of 0.41 cm(-1) under a DC voltage for 5 s, demonstrating a significant advance in technological performances compared to previous conventional actuators. To illustrate their great potential usage, a transparent wiper and a humanoid robot "hand" were elaborately designed and fabricated, which initiate a new direction in the development of high-performance invisible robotics and other intelligent applications with transparency.
透明致动器近来已引发了新的关注，因为它们在隐形机器人、战术显示器、可变焦距镜头和柔性手机等领域展现出了潜在应用。然而，先前的技术未能同时实现兼具大形状变形、低电压驱动致动和快速制造优势的宏观透明致动器。在此，我们开发了一种基于单层超对齐碳纳米管片和聚合物复合材料来制造高性能透明致动器的快速方法。单层纳米管片的各种优势，包括高透明度、可观的导电性和超薄尺寸，与选定的聚合物材料一起完全实现了上述所有所需优势。此外，这是首次使用单层纳米管片来制造具有高透明度的致动器，避免了对单层纳米管片的结构损伤。该透明致动器在550 nm波长处的透光率为72%，在直流电压下5秒内以0.41 cm⁻¹的曲率显著弯曲，与先前的传统致动器相比，在技术性能上有了显著进步。为了说明它们的巨大潜在用途，精心设计并制造了一个透明刮水器和一个类人机器人“手”，这为高性能隐形机器人技术及其他具有透明特性的智能应用的发展开创了一个新方向。
