title: Tough nanocomposite ionogel-based actuator exhibits robust performance.
abstract: Ionogel electrolytes can be fabricated for electrochemical actuators with many desirable advantages, including direct low-voltage control in air, high electrochemical and thermal stability, and complete silence during actuation. However, the demands for active actuators with above features and load-driving ability remain a challenge; much work is necessary to enhance the mechanical strength of electrolyte materials. Herein, we describe a cross-linked supramolecular approach to prepare tough nanocomposite gel electrolytes from HEMA, BMIMBF4, and TiO2 via self-initiated UV polymerization. The tough and stable ionogels are emerging to fabricate electric double-layer capacitor-like soft actuators, which can be driven by electrically induced ion migration. The ionogel-based actuator shows a displacement response of 5.6 mm to the driving voltage of 3.5 V. After adding the additional mass weight of the same as the actuator, it still shows a large displacement response of 3.9 mm. Furthermore, the actuator can not only work in harsh temperature environments (100°C and -10°C) but also realize the goal of grabbing an object by adjusting the applied voltage.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Advanced Research Institute, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092 (P. R. China).
authors.forename: Xinhua
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Control Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 201804 (P. R. China).
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Department of Control Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 201804 (P. R. China).
authors.forename: Zhipeng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Control Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 201804 (P. R. China).
authors.forename: Haifeng
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Advanced Research Institute, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092 (P. R. China).
authors.forename: Teng
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Su
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Advanced Research Institute, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092 (P. R. China).
authors.forename: Qigang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wang