Microfiber-Shaped Programmable Materials with Stimuli-Responsive Hydrogel

Autor: Hiroaki Onoe, Yutaka Hori, Ryuji Kawano, Shunsuke Nakajima, Koki Yoshida, Nobuki Takeuchi
Rok vydání: 2022
Předmět:
Zdroj: Soft Robotics. 9:89-97
ISSN: 2169-5180
2169-5172
DOI: 10.1089/soro.2020.0038
Popis: Programmable materials have artificially designed physical shapes responding to external stimuli, as well as high design capability and high flexibility. Here, we propose a microfiber-shaped programmable material with an axial pattern of stimuli-responsive (SR) and nonresponsive hydrogels. The SR pre-gel solution was mixed to sodium alginate pre-gel solution for instantaneous gelation with ionic crosslinking and solidified on a nonresponsive hydrogel microfiber with a valve-controlled microfluidic system. A design of microfiber-shaped programmable material (patterned position of SR regions) could be flexibly altered by changing a coded sequence program. We confirmed that the three-dimensional (3D) coil-like structures were self-folded at the patterned SR regions responding to the thermal stimulus and that the chirality of the self-folded 3D coil-like structures depends on the condition of the stimulus to the microfiber. Finally, interaction with objects using the programmable microfiber as a soft actuator was demonstrated. Our microfiber-shaped programmable materials expand possibilities of fiber-based materials in biomimetics and soft robotics fields.
Databáze: OpenAIRE