Review
Version 1
Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed
Bioinspired Stimuli-Responsive Materials for Soft Actuators
Version 1
: Received: 29 January 2024 / Approved: 29 January 2024 / Online: 29 January 2024 (14:17:56 CET)
A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.
Wang, Z.; Chen, Y.; Ma, Y.; Wang, J. Bioinspired Stimuli-Responsive Materials for Soft Actuators. Biomimetics 2024, 9, 128. Wang, Z.; Chen, Y.; Ma, Y.; Wang, J. Bioinspired Stimuli-Responsive Materials for Soft Actuators. Biomimetics 2024, 9, 128.
Abstract
Biomimetic stimuli-responsive materials can respond to various external stimuli in the form of structural or morphological transformations by actively or passively converting input energy into mechanical energy. They are the core element of soft actuators for typical smart devices like soft robots, artificial muscles, intelligent sensors and nanogenerators. While significant progresses have been made in bioinspired stimuli-responsive materials, they have not yet achieved the remarkable properties in biological systems. In this review, we will discuss recent advances in biomimetic stimuli-responsive materials that are instrumental for soft actuators. Different stimuli-responsive principles for soft actuators are firstly discussed, including fluidic, electrical, thermal, magnetic, light and chemical stimuli. We further summarize the state-of-the-art stimuli-responsive materials for soft actuators and explore the advantages and disadvantages of using electroactive polymers, magnetic soft composites, hydrogels, liquid crystal elastomers, shape memory alloys and chemical-responsive materials. Finally, we provide a critical outlook on the field of stimuli-responsive soft actuators, and emphasize the challenges in the process of their implementation to various industries.
Keywords
Bioinspired actuators; soft robots; stimuli-responsive materials; smart materials
Subject
Engineering, Mechanical Engineering
Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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