Touch-Responsive Hydrogel for Biomimetic Flytrap-Like Soft Actuator

• Published in: Nano-micro letters Vol. 14; no. 1; p. 182
• Main Authors: Wei, Junjie, Li, Rui, Li, Long, Wang, Wenqin, Chen, Tao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Singapore Springer Nature Singapore 01.12.2022; Springer Nature B.V; SpringerOpen
• Subjects: Actuation; Actuators; Biomimetic materials; Bionic actuation; Crystallization; Electric contacts; Engineering; Hydrogels; Intelligence; Nanoscale Science and Technology; Nanotechnology; Nanotechnology and Microengineering; Polymer composites; Saline solutions; Smart materials; Stimulation; Stimuli-responsive hydrogels; Supersaturated salt solution; Touch stimulation; Stimuli-responsive hydrogels; Bionic actuation; Touch stimulation; Smart materials; Supersaturated salt solution
• ISSN: 2311-6706; 2150-5551
• DOI: 10.1007/s40820-022-00931-4

Highlights A pioneering touch-responsive material with multiple responsiveness to touch stimulation (i.e., spatial contact with foreign object) is successfully developed. The responsive behaviors of touch-responsive hydrogel exhibit excellent controllability and designability. Based on cascade response strategy, a flytrap-like soft actuator with touch-responsive actuation is fabricated by employing the touch-responsive hydrogel. Stimuli-responsive hydrogel is regarded as one of the most promising smart soft materials for the next-generation advanced technologies and intelligence robots, but the limited variety of stimulus has become a non-negligible issue restricting its further development. Herein, we develop a new stimulus of “touch” (i.e., spatial contact with foreign object) for smart materials and propose a flytrap-inspired touch-responsive polymeric hydrogel based on supersaturated salt solution, exhibiting multiple responsive behaviors in crystallization, heat releasing, and electric signal under touch stimulation. Furthermore, utilizing flytrap-like cascade response strategy, a soft actuator with touch-responsive actuation is fabricated by employing the touch-responsive hydrogel and the thermo-responsive hydrogel. This investigation provides a facile and versatile strategy to design touch-responsive smart materials, enabling a profound potential application in intelligence areas.