Uduste Ilmar, Kaasik Friedrich, Johanson Urmas, Aabloo Alvo, Must Indrek
Intelligent Materials and Systems Lab, Institute of Technology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.
Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2020 May 19;8:408. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2020.00408. eCollection 2020.
Mass transfer from one part of an organism to another constitutes a fundamental non-muscular movement strategy in living organisms, in particular in plants. The demonstrable simplicity and safety make non-muscular actuators especially attractive for distributed configurations such as in wearable robotic applications on a textile platform. However, practical arrangements for integrating actuators as inherent parts of textiles is an ongoing challenge. Here we demonstrate an electrohydrodynamic ionic actuator that combines two textiles of natural origin. The first textile - viscose-rayon-derived activated carbon cloth - consists of high-surface-area monolithic fibers that provide electrical and mechanical integrity, whereas the other textile - silk - contributes to mechanical integrity in the lateral direction while preventing the conductive textiles from contacting. By injecting an electronic charge into the activated carbon cloth electrodes, the migration of the electrolyte ions is initiated in the porous network in-between the electrodes, causing non-uniform swelling and eventually bending of the laminate. The three-layer laminate composed of integral textile fibers demonstrated a ∼0.8% strain difference. Electrical control over a fluid movement in a textile platform provides a scalable method for functional textiles not limited to actuation.
物质在生物体的不同部分之间转移，构成了生物体（尤其是植物）一种基本的非肌肉运动策略。已证实的简单性和安全性使非肌肉致动器对于分布式配置特别有吸引力，例如在纺织平台上的可穿戴机器人应用中。然而，将致动器集成到纺织品中作为其固有组成部分的实际安排仍是一个持续存在的挑战。在此，我们展示了一种结合了两种天然来源纺织品的电流体动力离子致动器。第一种纺织品——粘胶人造丝衍生的活性炭布——由高表面积的整体纤维组成，可提供电气和机械完整性，而另一种纺织品——丝绸——在横向方向上有助于机械完整性，同时防止导电纺织品相互接触。通过向活性炭布电极注入电荷，电解质离子在电极之间的多孔网络中开始迁移，导致层压板不均匀膨胀并最终弯曲。由整体纺织纤维组成的三层层压板表现出约0.8%的应变差异。对纺织平台中流体运动的电气控制为功能纺织品提供了一种可扩展的方法，且不仅限于致动功能。
