Journal
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
Volume 13, Issue 13, Pages 15633-15646Publisher
AMER CHEMICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.1c00883
Keywords
electroactive; hydrogel; soft actuator; crosslinking; soft robotics
Funding
- Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) - Ministry of Science and ICT [NRF-2018R1A2B6008850]
- Basic Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) - Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning [NRF-2017M2A2A6A01071261]
- National Research Foundation of Korea [5199990414722] Funding Source: Korea Institute of Science & Technology Information (KISTI), National Science & Technology Information Service (NTIS)
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The study designed two electrically responsive hydrogels with fast response properties that can achieve bending deformation even under a low electric field.
Soft actuators have recently been widely studied due to their significant advantages including light weight, continuous deformability, high environment adaptability, and safe human robot interactions. In this study, we designed electrically responsive poly(sodium 4-vinylbenzenesulfonate/2hydroxyethylmethacrylate/acrylamide) (P (VBS/HEMA/AAm)) and poly(sodium 4-vinylbenzenesulfonate/2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate/acrylic acid) (P(VBS/HEMA/AAc)) hydrogels. A series of P(VBS/HEMA/AAm) and P(VBS/HEMA/AAc) hydrogels were prepared by adjusting the monomer composition and cross linking density to systemically analyze various factors affecting the actuation of hydrogels under an electric field. All hydrogels exhibited more than 65% gel fraction and a high equilibrium water content (EWC) of more than 90%. The EWC of hydrogels gradually increased with decreasing cross -linker content and was also influenced by the monomer composition. The mechanical properties of hydrogels were proportional to the cross -linking density. Particularly, hydrogels showed bending deformation even at low voltages below 10 V, and the electrically responsive bending actuation of hydrogels can be modulated by cross -linking density, monomer composition, applied voltage, ion strength of the electrolyte solution, and geometrical parameters of the hydrogel. By controlling these factors, hydrogels showed a fast response with a bending of more than 100 within a minute. In addition, hydrogels did not show significant cytotoxicity in a biocompatibility test and exhibited more than 84% cell viability. These results indicate that P(VBS/HEMA/AAm) and P(VBS/HEMA/AAc) hydrogels with fast response properties even under a low electric field have the potential to be used in a wide range of soft actuator applications.
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