Perovskite Nickelate Actuators

Micro-robotics is a burgeoning field, with potential applications in search and rescue, smart dust, advanced additive manufacturing and micro-surgery. A critical component enabling micro-robotic systems is efficient actuator materials. In this work we introduce thin films of NdNiO3, a prototypical perovskite nickelate, as a potential material for MEMS actuation, providing up to 6.0% tensile volumetric strain via hydrogen-ion intercalation, resulting in an experimentally demonstrated output work density of 6.7 J/cm(3) and stress output in excess of 1.1 GPa via a unique hydrogen doping mechanism. Separately, a stiffened cantilever array is fabricated to measure experimental tip deflection, which matches expected deflections from a developed finite element analysis model. [2020-0330]

Automated summary

Micro-robotics is a promising field with potential applications in various areas, where efficient actuator materials play a critical role. This study introduces thin films of NdNiO3 as a potential material for MEMS actuation, demonstrating high tensile volumetric strain and output power.