Skeletal Muscle Fibers Inspired Polymeric Actuator by Assembly of Triblock Polymers

Advanced Science

Kan Yue¹  Meifang Zhu²  Weijie Wang²  Xian Xu²  Liping Zhu²  Caihong Zhang²  Shuguang Yang²  Hao Huang² 

[1] South China Advanced Institute for Soft Mater Science and Technology School of Molecular Science and Engineering South China University of Technology Guangzhou 510640 P. R. China;State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials Center for Advanced Low‐dimension Materials College of Materials Science and Engineering Donghua University Shanghai 201620 P. R. China;

关键词: actuation;    hydrogen‐bonding complexation;    microphase separation;    pH responsive;    triblock copolymers;   

DOI  :  10.1002/advs.202105764

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Abstract Inspired by the striated structure of skeletal muscle fibers, a polymeric actuator by assembling two symmetric triblock copolymers, namely, polystyrene‐b‐poly(acrylic acid)‐b‐polystyrene (SAS) and polystyrene‐b‐poly(ethylene oxide)‐b‐polystyrene (SES) is developed. Owing to the microphase separation of the triblock copolymers and hydrogen‐bonding complexation of their middle segments, the SAS/SES assembly forms a lamellar structure with alternating vitrified S and hydrogen‐bonded A/E association layers. The SAS/SES strip can be actuated and operate in response to environmental pH. The contraction ratio and working density of the SAS/SES actuator are approximately 50% and 90 kJ m−3, respectively; these values are higher than those of skeletal muscle fibers. In addition, the SAS/SES actuator shows a “catch‐state”, that is, it can maintain force without energy consumption, which is a feature of mollusc muscle but not skeletal muscle. This study provides a biomimetic approach for the development of artificial polymeric actuators with outstanding performance.

【 授权许可】

Unknown