A Magnet-Driven Soft Bistable Actuator

Zhou Chen; Shangcheng Kong; Yunhu He; Shiting Chen; Wanying Wang; Lihan Jin; Shun Zhang; Ying Hong; Lulu Pan; Haikun Wu; Youneng Xie; Changhong Linghu; Zhengyi Mao; Zhengbao Yang; Chi Hou Chan; Jizhou Song; Jian Lu

doi:10.1002/adfm.202311498

A Magnet-Driven Soft Bistable Actuator

Zhou Chen, Shangcheng Kong, Yunhu He, Shiting Chen, Wanying Wang, Lihan Jin, Shun Zhang, Ying Hong, Lulu Pan, Haikun Wu, Youneng Xie, Changhong Linghu, Zhengyi Mao, Zhengbao Yang, Chi Hou Chan, Jizhou Song, Jian Lu^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal Publications and Reviews › RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal › peer-review

18 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Bistable morphing structures are widely used as actuation mechanisms in soft actuators, soft robotics, energy absorbers, mechanical computers, optical lenses, metamaterials, and flexible electronics. However, untethered actuators, repetitive actuators, and hybrid-assembly (containing in-plane-assembly and out-of-plane-assembly) actuators remain challenging to realize using existing bistable structures, which hinders the novel application of such actuators in research, engineering, and daily life. This problem is solved by fabricating a magnet-driven soft bistable actuator (MSBA) unit. The self-buckling of the circular polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) sheet ensures the bistability of the actuator and allows it to operate as an independent unit, free of external constraints. The reorientation of neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) microparticles embedded in the PDMS sheet enables the dome-shaped actuators to exhibit repetitive snapping under the stimulus of a direction-switching magnetic field. The potential of this MSBA unit in bionics, electronics, and biomechanics applications is demonstrated in systematic studies involving modification of the buckling deflection and magnetic moment density. The MSBA unit exhibits excellent performance in hybrid designs and intelligent systems.
© 2024 Wiley-VCH GmbH.

Original language	English
Article number	2311498
Number of pages	13
Journal	Advanced Functional Materials
Volume	34
Issue number	17
Online published	9 Jan 2024
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202311498
Publication status	Published - 25 Apr 2024

Funding

J.L. gratefully acknowledges the financial support provided by the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone Shenzhen Park Project: HZQB-KCZYB-2020030, the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong (project no: AoE/M-402/20.), and the Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Commission via the Hong Kong Branch of National Precious Metals Material Engineering Research Center. J.S. gratefully acknowledges the financial support provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. U21A20502 and 12225209). This research was supported by Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No. LQ24A020008.

Research Keywords

biomimetic gripper
bistable unit
dynamic bioreactor
magnet-driven
reconfigurable electronics

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abstract = "Bistable morphing structures are widely used as actuation mechanisms in soft actuators, soft robotics, energy absorbers, mechanical computers, optical lenses, metamaterials, and flexible electronics. However, untethered actuators, repetitive actuators, and hybrid-assembly (containing in-plane-assembly and out-of-plane-assembly) actuators remain challenging to realize using existing bistable structures, which hinders the novel application of such actuators in research, engineering, and daily life. This problem is solved by fabricating a magnet-driven soft bistable actuator (MSBA) unit. The self-buckling of the circular polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) sheet ensures the bistability of the actuator and allows it to operate as an independent unit, free of external constraints. The reorientation of neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) microparticles embedded in the PDMS sheet enables the dome-shaped actuators to exhibit repetitive snapping under the stimulus of a direction-switching magnetic field. The potential of this MSBA unit in bionics, electronics, and biomechanics applications is demonstrated in systematic studies involving modification of the buckling deflection and magnetic moment density. The MSBA unit exhibits excellent performance in hybrid designs and intelligent systems. {\textcopyright} 2024 Wiley-VCH GmbH.",

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AU - Chen, Zhou

AU - Kong, Shangcheng

AU - He, Yunhu

AU - Chen, Shiting

AU - Wang, Wanying

AU - Jin, Lihan

AU - Zhang, Shun

AU - Hong, Ying

AU - Pan, Lulu

AU - Wu, Haikun

AU - Xie, Youneng

AU - Linghu, Changhong

AU - Mao, Zhengyi

AU - Yang, Zhengbao

AU - Chan, Chi Hou

AU - Song, Jizhou

AU - Lu, Jian

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AB - Bistable morphing structures are widely used as actuation mechanisms in soft actuators, soft robotics, energy absorbers, mechanical computers, optical lenses, metamaterials, and flexible electronics. However, untethered actuators, repetitive actuators, and hybrid-assembly (containing in-plane-assembly and out-of-plane-assembly) actuators remain challenging to realize using existing bistable structures, which hinders the novel application of such actuators in research, engineering, and daily life. This problem is solved by fabricating a magnet-driven soft bistable actuator (MSBA) unit. The self-buckling of the circular polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) sheet ensures the bistability of the actuator and allows it to operate as an independent unit, free of external constraints. The reorientation of neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) microparticles embedded in the PDMS sheet enables the dome-shaped actuators to exhibit repetitive snapping under the stimulus of a direction-switching magnetic field. The potential of this MSBA unit in bionics, electronics, and biomechanics applications is demonstrated in systematic studies involving modification of the buckling deflection and magnetic moment density. The MSBA unit exhibits excellent performance in hybrid designs and intelligent systems. © 2024 Wiley-VCH GmbH.

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A Magnet-Driven Soft Bistable Actuator

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A Magnet-Driven Soft Bistable Actuator

Abstract

Funding

Research Keywords

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AoE(UGC)-ExtU-Lead: Aging, Skeletal Degeneration and Regeneration

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