TY - JOUR
T1 - Spatially and Reversibly Actuating Soft Gel Structure by Harnessing Multimode Elastic Instabilities
AU - Liu, Yingzhi
AU - Sun, Ansu
AU - Sridhar, Sreepathy
AU - Li, Zhenghong
AU - Qin, Zhuofan
AU - Liu, Ji
AU - Chen, Sherry
AU - Lu, Haibao
AU - Tang, Ben Zhong
AU - Xu, Ben Bin
N1 - Funding information: The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) under Grant Nos. 11672342 and 11725208 and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) grant-EP/N007921 and Royal Society Kan Tong Po International Fellowship 2019-KTP \R1\191012.
PY - 2021/8/4
Y1 - 2021/8/4
N2 - Autonomous shape transformation is key in developing high-performance soft robotics technology; the search for pronounced actuation mechanisms is an ongoing mission. Here, we present the programmable shape morphing of a three-dimensional (3D) curved gel structure by harnessing multimode mechanical instabilities during free swelling. First of all, the coupling of buckling and creasing occurs at the dedicated region of the gel structure, which is attributed to the edge and surface instabilities resulted from structure-defined spatial nonuniformity of swelling. The subsequent developments of post-buckling morphologies and crease patterns collaboratively drive the structural transformation of the gel part from the “open” state to the “closed” state, thus realizing the function of gripping. By utilizing the multi-stimuli-responsive nature of the hydrogel, we recover the swollen gel structure to its initial state, enabling reproducible and cyclic shape evolution. The described soft gel structure capable of shape transformation brings a variety of advantages, such as easy to fabricate, large strain transformation, efficient actuation, and high strength-to-weight ratio, and is anticipated to provide guidance for future applications in soft robotics, flexible electronics, offshore engineering, and healthcare products.
AB - Autonomous shape transformation is key in developing high-performance soft robotics technology; the search for pronounced actuation mechanisms is an ongoing mission. Here, we present the programmable shape morphing of a three-dimensional (3D) curved gel structure by harnessing multimode mechanical instabilities during free swelling. First of all, the coupling of buckling and creasing occurs at the dedicated region of the gel structure, which is attributed to the edge and surface instabilities resulted from structure-defined spatial nonuniformity of swelling. The subsequent developments of post-buckling morphologies and crease patterns collaboratively drive the structural transformation of the gel part from the “open” state to the “closed” state, thus realizing the function of gripping. By utilizing the multi-stimuli-responsive nature of the hydrogel, we recover the swollen gel structure to its initial state, enabling reproducible and cyclic shape evolution. The described soft gel structure capable of shape transformation brings a variety of advantages, such as easy to fabricate, large strain transformation, efficient actuation, and high strength-to-weight ratio, and is anticipated to provide guidance for future applications in soft robotics, flexible electronics, offshore engineering, and healthcare products.
KW - Hydrogel
KW - swelling
KW - creasing
KW - buckling
KW - shape transformation
KW - hydrogel
KW - General Materials Science
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85112308425&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1021/acsami.1c10431
DO - 10.1021/acsami.1c10431
M3 - Article
SN - 1944-8244
VL - 13
SP - 36361
EP - 36369
JO - ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
JF - ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
IS - 30
ER -