State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, 130012, Changchun, P. R. China.
Smart Materials Lab, New York University Abu Dhabi, PO Box 129188, Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Nat Commun. 2023 Apr 21;14(1):2287. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-37964-1.
The capability of stimulated response by mechanical deformation to induce motion or actuation is the foundation of lightweight organic, dynamic materials for designing light and soft robots. Various biomimetic soft robots are constructed to demonstrate the vast versatility of responses and flexibility in shape-shifting. We now report that the integration of organic molecular crystals and polymers brings about synergistic improvement in the performance of both materials as a hybrid materials class, with the polymers adding hygroresponsive and thermally responsive functionalities to the crystals. The resulting hybrid dynamic elements respond within milliseconds, which represents several orders of magnitude of improvement in the time response relative to some other type of common actuators. Combining molecular crystals with polymers brings crystals as largely overlooked materials much closer to specific applications in soft (micro)robotics and related fields.
机械变形刺激响应的能力是设计轻量级有机、动态材料的基础，这些材料可用于设计轻巧柔软的机器人。各种仿生软机器人的构建展示了响应的多样性和形状变换的灵活性。我们现在报告称，有机分子晶体和聚合物的结合为混合材料带来了协同性能的提升，聚合物为晶体增加了湿敏和热敏功能。由此产生的混合动态元件在几毫秒内响应，与其他一些常见执行器相比，其时间响应提高了几个数量级。将分子晶体与聚合物结合使用，使得晶体这种长期被忽视的材料更接近于在软（微）机器人和相关领域的特定应用。
