Biologically inspired, sophisticated motions from helically assembled, conducting fibers

Peining Chen; Yifan Xu; Sisi He; Xuemei Sun; Wenhan Guo; Zhitao Zhang; Longbin Qiu; Jianfeng Li; Daoyong Chen; Huisheng Peng

doi:10.1002/adma.201402867

Biologically inspired, sophisticated motions from helically assembled, conducting fibers

Adv Mater. 2015 Feb 11;27(6):1042-7. doi: 10.1002/adma.201402867. Epub 2014 Dec 2.

Authors

Peining Chen¹, Yifan Xu, Sisi He, Xuemei Sun, Wenhan Guo, Zhitao Zhang, Longbin Qiu, Jianfeng Li, Daoyong Chen, Huisheng Peng

Affiliation

¹ State Key Laboratory of Molecular Engineering of Polymers, Department of Macromolecular Science and Laboratory of Advanced Materials, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200438, China.

PMID: 25446835
DOI: 10.1002/adma.201402867

Abstract

A hierarchically helical organization of carbon nanotubes into macroscopic fibers enables sophistication while controlling three-dimensional electromechanical actuations, e.g., an artificial swing and tail. The actuation generates a stress of more than 260 times that of a typical natural skeletal muscle and an accelerated velocity of more than 10 times that of a cheetah at low electric currents with high reversibility, good stability, and availability to various media.

Keywords: actuation; electrically conducting; fiber; helical.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Biomimetic Materials / chemical synthesis*
Electric Conductivity
Electromagnetic Fields
Flight, Animal / physiology*
Materials Testing
Motion
Muscle Fibers, Skeletal / physiology*
Nanofibers / chemistry*
Nanofibers / radiation effects
Nanofibers / ultrastructure
Nanotubes, Carbon / chemistry*
Nanotubes, Carbon / radiation effects
Nanotubes, Carbon / ultrastructure
Wings, Animal / physiology*

Substances

Nanotubes, Carbon