Thermal Camouflaging MXene Robotic Skin with Bio-Inspired Stimulus Sensation and Wireless Communication

Cephalopod skin, which is capable of dynamic optical camouflage, environmental perceptions, and herd communication, has long been a source of bio-inspiration for developing soft robots with incredible optoelectronic functions. Yet, challenges still exist in designing a stretchable and compliant robotic skin with high-level functional integration for soft robots with infinite degrees of freedom. Herein, an emerging 2D material, Ti3C2Tx MXene, and an interfacial engineering strategy are adopted to fabricate the soft robotic skin with cephalopod skin-inspired multifunctionality. By harnessing interfacial instability, the MXene robotic skin with reconfigurable microtextures demonstrates tunable infrared emission (0.30-0.80), enabling dynamic thermal camouflage for soft robots. Benefiting from the intrinsic Seebeck effect, crack propagation behaviors as well as high electrical conductivity, the MXene robotic skins are tightly integrated with thermal/strain sensation capabilities and can serve as a deformable antenna for wireless communication. Without additional electronics installed, the soft robots wearing the conformal MXene skins perform adaptive thermal camouflage based on the thermoelectric feedback in response to environmental temperature changes. With built-in strain sensing and wireless communication capabilities, the soft robot can record its locomotion routes and wirelessly transmit the key information to the following soft robot to keep both in disguise under thermographic cameras.

Automated summary

By using MXene materials and interfacial engineering strategy, researchers have successfully fabricated cephalopod skin-inspired soft robotic skin with tunable infrared emission and thermal camouflage capabilities. This skin not only has thermal/strain sensation capabilities, but also serves as a deformable antenna for wireless communication, providing more functions for soft robots.