Ge Feijie, Zhao Yue
Département de Chimie , Université de Sherbrooke , Sherbrooke , Québec J1K 2R1 , Canada . Email:
Chem Sci. 2017 Sep 1;8(9):6307-6312. doi: 10.1039/c7sc01792h. Epub 2017 Jul 3.
It is very challenging to make materials capable of autonomous oscillation known in many living systems (such as the heartbeat). Herein, we describe an approach to creating a thermo-mechano-thermal feedback loop for thermal phase transition-based polymer actuators, which leads to hour-long, autonomous motion on a substrate surface of constant temperature. We investigated the variables that determine the amplitude and period of the motion, and demonstrated exemplary physical work powered by direct thermomechanical energy conversion. Such continuous motion of a solid polymer driven by thermal energy without the need for temperature up/down switching is unprecedented, and the validated feedback loop can be implemented into other thermal phase transition-based polymer actuators.
制造出能够自主振荡的材料极具挑战性，而这种振荡在许多生命系统（如心跳）中都很常见。在此，我们描述了一种为基于热相变的聚合物致动器创建热-机械-热反馈回路的方法，该方法可使致动器在恒定温度的基板表面上实现长达数小时的自主运动。我们研究了决定运动幅度和周期的变量，并展示了由直接热机械能转换驱动的典型物理功。这种由热能驱动的固体聚合物连续运动无需温度升降切换，这是前所未有的，并且经过验证的反馈回路可应用于其他基于热相变的聚合物致动器。
