title: Thermoresponsive actuation enabled by permittivity switching in an electrostatically anisotropic hydrogel.
abstract: Electrostatic repulsion, long used for attenuating surface friction, is not typically employed for the design of bulk structural materials. We recently developed a hydrogel with a layered structure consisting of cofacially oriented electrolyte nanosheets. Because this unusual geometry imparts a large anisotropic electrostatic repulsion to the hydrogel interior, the hydrogel resisted compression orthogonal to the sheets but readily deformed along parallel shear. Building on this concept, here we show a hydrogel actuator that operates by modulating its anisotropic electrostatics in response to changes of electrostatic permittivity associated with a lower critical solution temperature transition. In the absence of substantial water uptake and release, the distance between the nanosheets rapidly expands and contracts on heating and cooling, respectively, so that the hydrogel lengthens and shortens significantly, even in air. An L-shaped hydrogel with an oblique nanosheet configuration can thus act as a unidirectionally proceeding actuator that operates without the need for external physical biases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan.
authors.forename: Youn Soo
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science, 2-1 Hirosawa Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan.
authors.forename: Mingjie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science, 2-1 Hirosawa Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan.
authors.forename: Yasuhiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ishida
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Materials Science, International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics, 1-1 Namiki Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044, Japan.
authors.forename: Yasuo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ebina
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Materials Science, International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics, 1-1 Namiki Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044, Japan.
authors.forename: Minoru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Osada
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Materials Science, International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics, 1-1 Namiki Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044, Japan.
authors.forename: Takayoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sasaki
authors.affiliation: RIKEN SPring-8 Center, 1-1-1 Kouto Sayo, Hyogo 679-5198, Japan.
authors.forename: Takaaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hikima
authors.affiliation: RIKEN SPring-8 Center, 1-1-1 Kouto Sayo, Hyogo 679-5198, Japan.
authors.forename: Masaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takata
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan.|RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science, 2-1 Hirosawa Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan.
authors.forename: Takuzo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Aida