Research On Electrothermal Actuators Based On Graphene/Silver Nanoparticles Composite Films

The actuator is a device capable of converting various types of input energy(thermal energy,light energy,magnetic energy,electric energy,etc.)into kinetic energy,widely used in the fields of artificial muscles,bionic robots,biomedical devices,micro switches and sensors.Among various types of actuators,electrothermal actuators have received sufficient attention due to their simple operation and wide applications.In recent years,with the discovery of materials such as carbon nanotubes and graphene,flexible electrothermal actuators based on these flexible conductive materials have been realized and developed.Compared with the conventional silicon-based electrothermal actuator,the flexible electrothermal actuator has more degrees of freedom,can accomplish complex motions in a relatively simple way,so it is expected to find more applications in the field of bionics.However,due to the high intrinsic resistance of both carbon nanotubes and graphene,electrothermal actuators based on these conductive materials generally require higher driving voltages.In addition,traditional methods for preparing those materials based on chemical vapor deposition are quite expensive,which are not suitable for industrial production.In this paper,a low voltage,large strain flexible electrothermal actuator based on laser-reduced graphene oxide/silver nanoparticle composites is demonstrated.By adding silver particles to the graphene,the resistance of the composite material is effectively reduced,the fabrication process is simple and cost efficient.Compared with other reported electrothermal actuators,the laser-reduced graphene oxide/silver nanoparticles flexible electrothermal actuator in this paper has the advantages of fast response,low driving voltage,and large bending angle.At a driving voltage of 28 V,the actuator achieved a bending angle of 192° in 6 seconds.The bending angle can be precisely controlled by the driving voltage.The flexible electrothermal actuators were used to prepare a robot arm capable of grasping an object.Finally,the factors affecting the performance of electrothermal actuators are analyzed and the direction of optimization is proposed.The realization of the low-voltage driven graphene actuator is of great significance to the promotion of the development of graphene-based flexible electrothermal actuators,and has a wide application prospect in the field of flexible mechanical systems.