CN113684035A - Electric control soft actuator and preparation method and application thereof - Google Patents

Electric control soft actuator and preparation method and application thereof Download PDF

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Publication number
CN113684035A
CN113684035A CN202110954615.8A CN202110954615A CN113684035A CN 113684035 A CN113684035 A CN 113684035A CN 202110954615 A CN202110954615 A CN 202110954615A CN 113684035 A CN113684035 A CN 113684035A
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liquid crystal
layer
hcm
crystal polymer
soft actuator
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CN113684035B (en
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袁冬
赵可
王凯宇
杨婷姣
刘丹青
周国富
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South China Normal University
Shenzhen Guohua Optoelectronics Co Ltd
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South China Normal University
Shenzhen Guohua Optoelectronics Co Ltd
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    • C08—ORGANIC MACROMOLECULAR COMPOUNDS; THEIR PREPARATION OR CHEMICAL WORKING-UP; COMPOSITIONS BASED THEREON
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    • C08F222/00—Copolymers of compounds having one or more unsaturated aliphatic radicals, each having only one carbon-to-carbon double bond, and at least one being terminated by a carboxyl radical and containing at least one other carboxyl radical in the molecule; Salts, anhydrides, esters, amides, imides, or nitriles thereof
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    • C09K19/3833—Polymers with mesogenic groups in the side chain
    • C09K19/3842—Polyvinyl derivatives
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    • C23—COATING METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING MATERIAL WITH METALLIC MATERIAL; CHEMICAL SURFACE TREATMENT; DIFFUSION TREATMENT OF METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING BY VACUUM EVAPORATION, BY SPUTTERING, BY ION IMPLANTATION OR BY CHEMICAL VAPOUR DEPOSITION, IN GENERAL; INHIBITING CORROSION OF METALLIC MATERIAL OR INCRUSTATION IN GENERAL
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    • C23—COATING METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING MATERIAL WITH METALLIC MATERIAL; CHEMICAL SURFACE TREATMENT; DIFFUSION TREATMENT OF METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING BY VACUUM EVAPORATION, BY SPUTTERING, BY ION IMPLANTATION OR BY CHEMICAL VAPOUR DEPOSITION, IN GENERAL; INHIBITING CORROSION OF METALLIC MATERIAL OR INCRUSTATION IN GENERAL
    • C23C—COATING METALLIC MATERIAL; COATING MATERIAL WITH METALLIC MATERIAL; SURFACE TREATMENT OF METALLIC MATERIAL BY DIFFUSION INTO THE SURFACE, BY CHEMICAL CONVERSION OR SUBSTITUTION; COATING BY VACUUM EVAPORATION, BY SPUTTERING, BY ION IMPLANTATION OR BY CHEMICAL VAPOUR DEPOSITION, IN GENERAL
    • C23C14/00—Coating by vacuum evaporation, by sputtering or by ion implantation of the coating forming material
    • C23C14/22—Coating by vacuum evaporation, by sputtering or by ion implantation of the coating forming material characterised by the process of coating
    • C23C14/24—Vacuum evaporation

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Abstract

The invention discloses an electric control soft actuator and a preparation method and application thereof. The electric control soft actuator can make the electric response liquid crystal polymer layer deform only by applying voltage to change the director of the liquid crystal molecules, and the switch of the voltage achieves the conversion between the bending state and the flat state.

Description

Electric control soft actuator and preparation method and application thereof
Technical Field
The invention relates to the technical field of software actuators, in particular to an electric control soft actuator and a preparation method and application thereof.
Background
In recent years, soft robots are developed very rapidly, different from traditional rigid robots, soft robots using stimulus-responsive elastic materials can generate continuous shape deformation, have high structural softness, and have wide research and application prospects in the fields of soft actuators, mechanical arms, artificial muscles and the like. Nowadays, among polymer actuators, there are a thermal drive type and an optical drive type. However, thermal actuation typically generates a large amount of heat, greatly limiting the application of soft actuators; light drive mostly needs light with specific wavelength, and the application range is small.
Disclosure of Invention
The present invention is directed to solving at least one of the problems of the prior art. Therefore, the invention provides the electric control soft actuator which has the characteristics of convenience in use and wide application range.
The invention also provides a preparation method of the electric control soft actuator.
The invention also provides application of the electric control soft actuator.
The invention provides an electric control soft actuator, which comprises a conducting layer, wherein the conducting layer at least comprises a first conducting layer and a second conducting layer, an electric response liquid crystal polymer layer is arranged between the first conducting layer and the second conducting layer, and when no voltage is applied between the adjacent conducting layers, the arrangement mode of liquid crystal molecular directors in the electric response liquid crystal polymer layer is the arrangement mode of a spreading region.
The electric control soft actuator according to the embodiment of the invention at least has the following beneficial effects: under the condition of not generating any heat, the electric control soft actuator can deform the electric response liquid crystal polymer layer by only applying voltage to change the director of the liquid crystal molecules, and the switch of the voltage achieves the conversion between the bending state and the flat state.
The method specifically comprises the following steps: and voltage is applied between the first conducting layer and the second conducting layer (the first conducting layer and the second conducting layer are respectively connected to two poles of a power supply and are electrified), liquid crystal molecules in the electric response liquid crystal polymer layer are arranged in parallel to the electric field under the action of the electric field, and the liquid crystal molecules are initially arranged in a spread area, so that the director of the liquid crystal molecules is different, and the rotation angles of the molecules are different. The liquid crystal molecules which are arranged in parallel have large rotation angle and large deformation, the liquid crystal molecules which are arranged vertically have small rotation angle and small deformation, the bending degrees of the surfaces on the two sides of the electric response liquid crystal polymer layer are different, so that the electric response liquid crystal polymer layer is bent, and the electric control soft actuator is in a curled state. After the electric field is closed, no external acting force or energy exists, the liquid crystal molecules can restore to the initial state, and the electric control soft actuator restores to the initial flat state.
The electric control soft actuator disclosed by the invention does not need thermal drive or optical drive, is directly controlled by electricity without heat generation, changes the director of liquid crystal molecules only by applying lower voltage under the condition of thermal insulation, enables the electric response liquid crystal polymer layer to generate larger bending deformation to achieve the conversion between a bending state and a flat state, is more convenient to control and drive according to the manual requirement, is especially applied to portable equipment, and therefore, has convenient use and wide application range, and has wide research and application prospects in the fields of soft actuators, mechanical arms, artificial muscles and the like.
In some embodiments of the present invention, the electrically controlled soft actuator further includes a power supply component, and the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer are electrically connected to the power supply component respectively.
In some preferred embodiments of the present invention, the power supply module comprises an ac power supply and a voltage controller connected in series to the ac power supply.
In some embodiments of the invention, the electrically-responsive liquid crystalline polymer layer is a liquid crystalline polymer network layer.
In some embodiments of the present invention, the materials of the electrically-responsive liquid crystal polymer layer include a liquid crystal monomer mixture, a photo-initiator, and a polymerization inhibitor.
In some preferred embodiments of the present invention, the ratio of the parts by mass of the liquid crystal monomer mixture to the photo-inducer is (85-98): 1-2.
In some preferred embodiments of the present invention, the ratio of the parts by mass of the photo-initiator and the polymerization inhibitor is (1-2) to (0.01-0.03).
In some more preferred embodiments of the present invention, the liquid crystal monomer mixture comprises a diacrylate liquid crystal monomer and a monoacrylate liquid crystal monomer.
In some more preferred embodiments of the present invention, the diacrylate liquid crystal monomer comprises; at least one of HCM-008 or HCM-009.
In some more preferred embodiments of the present invention, the monoacrylate liquid crystal monomer comprises; at least one of HCM-020 or HCM-021.
In some more preferred embodiments of the present invention, the ratio of parts by mass of the diacrylate liquid crystal monomer and the monoacrylate liquid crystal monomer is (20-50) to (45-83).
In some more preferred embodiments of the present invention, the ratio of parts by mass of the diacrylate liquid crystal monomer and the monoacrylate liquid crystal monomer is (40-50) to (45-48).
In some more preferred embodiments of the present invention, the ratio of parts by mass of the diacrylate liquid crystal monomer and the monoacrylate liquid crystal monomer is (20-25) to (65-83).
In some more preferred embodiments of the present invention, the liquid crystal monomer mixture comprises: HCM-008, HCM-009, and HCM-020.
The reagent can be purchased from the market, and manufacturers comprise Jiangsu and New Material Forming Co.
In some more preferred embodiments of the invention, the ratio of the mass fractions of HCM-008, HCM-009 and HCM-020 is (20-25): (45-48).
Through the embodiment, the raw material proportion can be adopted to achieve complete polymerization, the electric control soft actuator has a good electric response effect, deformation is completely recovered after power failure, the viscosity and flexibility of the electric response liquid crystal polymer layer are good, and desorption from the substrate is facilitated during preparation.
In some more preferred embodiments of the present invention, the liquid crystal monomer mixture comprises: HCM-009, HCM-020 and HCM-021.
The reagent can be purchased from the market, and manufacturers comprise Jiangsu and New Material Forming Co.
In some more preferred embodiments of the invention, the ratio of the mass parts of HCM-009, HCM-021 and HCM-020 is (20-25): (45-48).
In some embodiments of the present invention, the electrically-responsive liquid crystal polymer layer is prepared by ultraviolet polymerization of a liquid crystal monomer mixture, a photo-initiator and a polymerization inhibitor.
In some embodiments of the invention, the thickness of the electrically responsive liquid crystalline polymer layer is 10-50 nm.
In some embodiments of the present invention, the electrically controlled soft actuator further includes an insulating substrate disposed on a side of the first conductive layer facing away from the electrically responsive liquid crystal polymer layer.
In some preferred embodiments of the present invention, the insulating substrate is adjacent to a side of the electric responsive liquid crystal polymer layer where liquid crystal molecules are arranged in parallel.
In some preferred embodiments of the present invention, the first conductive layer is adjacent to one side of the electrically responsive liquid crystal polymer layer where liquid crystal molecules are arranged in parallel.
In some more preferred embodiments of the present invention, the insulating substrate is an elastomer.
Through the embodiment, the insulating plastic substrate is applied on the first conducting layer, so that the elasticity and the toughness of the soft actuator are enhanced, and deformation failure caused by contact short circuit of the conducting layer after the soft actuator is curled can be avoided.
In some more preferred embodiments of the present invention, the insulating substrate comprises a PDMS elastomer.
Polydimethylsiloxane is PDMS.
In some preferred embodiments of the present invention, the insulating substrate has a thickness of 20 to 50 nm.
In some more preferred embodiments of the present invention, the raw material of the insulating substrate includes a precursor of PDMS and a cross-linking agent.
The above reagents are commercially available, wherein the manufacturers of PDMS precursors and crosslinkers include Dow Corning.
In some more preferred embodiments of the present invention, the mass parts ratio of the precursor and the cross-linking agent of the PDMS is about 9: 1.
in some embodiments of the present invention, a material of the first conductive layer includes at least one of gold or silver.
In some preferred embodiments of the present invention, the first conductive layer has a thickness of 30 to 100 nm.
In some more preferred embodiments of the present invention, the first conductive layer has a thickness of about 50 nm.
In some embodiments of the present invention, a material of the second conductive layer includes at least one of gold or silver.
In some preferred embodiments of the present invention, the second conductive layer has a thickness of 30 to 100 nm.
In some more preferred embodiments of the present invention, the second conductive layer has a thickness of about 50 nm.
In a second aspect of the present invention, a method for preparing an electrically controlled soft actuator is provided, which includes the following steps:
s1, electrically responding to the liquid crystal polymer layer raw material mixture I, and inducing liquid crystal molecules in the mixture I to form spreading region arrangement to obtain a mixture II;
s2, carrying out photopolymerization and thermal polymerization on the mixture II with the spread area arrangement obtained in the step S1 to obtain an electric response liquid crystal polymer layer;
and S3, assembling the electric response liquid crystal polymer layer obtained in the step S2 with the first conducting layer and the second conducting layer to obtain the electric control soft actuator.
In some embodiments of the invention, the mixture ii is a nematic liquid crystal.
In some preferred embodiments of the present invention, the method further comprises a step S1-1 of mixing and dissolving the raw material of the electrically responsive liquid crystal polymer layer in a solvent, heating and stirring to remove the solvent, and cooling to room temperature to obtain a mixture i.
In some more preferred embodiments of the present invention, in step S1-1, the solvent comprises dichloromethane.
In some more preferred embodiments of the present invention, the heating temperature is about 60 ℃ in step S1-1.
In some embodiments of the present invention, in step S1, the liquid crystal molecules in mixture i are induced to form a splay alignment by the alignment layer.
In some preferred embodiments of the present invention, the alignment layer comprises a homeotropic alignment layer and a parallel alignment layer.
In some preferred embodiments of the present invention, the alignment layers are a homeotropic alignment layer and a parallel alignment layer.
In some more preferred embodiments of the present invention, the method further includes step S1-2, wherein one side of the first transparent substrate is provided with a parallel alignment layer, the rubbing orientation forms parallel ravines, and one side of the second transparent substrate is provided with a vertical alignment layer; and oppositely arranging the surface of the first light-transmitting substrate with the parallel alignment layer and the surface of the second light-transmitting substrate with the vertical alignment layer, pressing the first light-transmitting substrate and the second light-transmitting substrate by using an acrylate pressure-sensitive adhesive to form a closed space to obtain a liquid crystal box, and filling the mixture I into the liquid crystal box to obtain a mixture II.
In some more preferred embodiments of the present invention, in step S1-2, mixture I is filled into a liquid crystal cell at 70-75 deg.C, and the temperature is adjusted to about 40 deg.C to obtain mixture II.
In some embodiments of the present invention, in step S2, the photo-polymerization is: polymerizing for about 30min under 365nm ultraviolet light.
In some embodiments of the invention, in step S2, the thermal polymerization is: thermal polymerization at 120 ℃ for about 15 min.
In some embodiments of the present invention, in step S3, the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer are assembled on both sides of the electric responsive liquid crystal polymer layer by evaporation.
In some embodiments of the present invention, in step S3, the evaporation is vacuum evaporation.
In some embodiments of the present invention, step S4 is further included to prepare an insulating substrate on a side of the conductive layer facing away from the electrically responsive liquid crystal polymer layer, wherein the conductive layer is close to a side of the electrically responsive liquid crystal polymer layer where the liquid crystal molecules are arranged in parallel.
In some preferred embodiments of the present invention, the insulating substrate is formed by spin coating a raw material mixture of the insulating substrate on a side of the first conductive layer and thermally curing the raw material mixture.
In some more preferred embodiments of the present invention, the raw material mixture of the insulating substrate includes a PDMS mixture solution obtained by mixing a precursor of PDMS and a crosslinking agent.
In some preferred embodiments of the present invention, the PDMS mixture solution is spin-coated on the side of the first conductive layer, and is thermally cured to form the insulating substrate.
In some more preferred embodiments of the present invention, the PDMS mixture solution is spin-coated at about 1000rpm for about 20 seconds.
In some more preferred embodiments of the present invention, the conditions for thermally curing the PDMS mixed solution are: the temperature is about 60 ℃, and the curing time is about 2 hours.
In some more preferred embodiments of the present invention, when the PDMS mixed solution is spin-coated, a certain area of the first conductive layer is left exposed, and the exposed area is used for connecting to a power supply.
The third aspect of the present invention provides an application of the above electrically controlled soft actuator in the fields of software actuators, mechanical arms or artificial muscles, etc.
The electric control soft actuator disclosed by the invention does not need thermal drive or optical drive, is directly controlled by electricity without heat generation, changes the director of liquid crystal molecules only by applying lower voltage under the condition of thermal insulation, enables an electric response liquid crystal polymer layer to generate larger bending deformation (curling) to achieve the conversion between a bending state and a flat state, is more convenient to control and drive according to the manual requirement, is particularly applied to portable equipment, and therefore, has convenient use and wide application range, and has wide research and application prospects in the fields of soft actuators, mechanical arms, artificial muscles and the like.
Drawings
The invention is further described with reference to the following figures and examples, in which:
FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an electrically controlled soft actuator according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the arrangement of the directors of the liquid crystal molecules when no driving voltage is applied and when a driving voltage is applied in the embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 3 is an external schematic view of the electrically controlled soft actuator according to the embodiment of the present invention when no driving voltage is applied and when a driving voltage is applied;
fig. 4 is a diagram of a deformed object of the electric control soft actuator when no driving voltage is applied and when a driving voltage is applied in the embodiment of the present invention.
Reference numerals: 1. an electrically responsive liquid crystal polymer layer; 2. a second conductive layer; 3. a first conducting layer; 4. an insulating substrate.
Detailed Description
Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like or similar reference numerals refer to the same or similar elements or elements having the same or similar function throughout. The embodiments described below with reference to the accompanying drawings are illustrative only for the purpose of explaining the present invention, and are not to be construed as limiting the present invention. In the description of the present invention, it should be understood that the orientation or positional relationship referred to in the description of the orientation, such as the upper, lower, front, rear, left, right, etc., is based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the drawings, and is only for convenience of description and simplification of description, and does not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and thus, should not be construed as limiting the present invention.
In the description of the present invention, the meaning of a plurality is one or more, the meaning of a plurality is two or more, and the above, below, exceeding, etc. are understood as excluding the present numbers, and the above, below, within, etc. are understood as including the present numbers. If one or two are described, the technical features are used for distinguishing, and the relative importance is indicated or implied, the number of the indicated technical features is implicitly indicated, or the precedence relationship of the indicated technical features is implicitly indicated.
In the description of the present invention, unless otherwise explicitly limited, terms such as arrangement, installation, connection and the like should be understood in a broad sense, and those skilled in the art can reasonably determine the specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention in combination with the specific contents of the technical solutions.
In the description of the present invention, reference to the description of the terms "one embodiment," "some embodiments," "an illustrative embodiment," "an example," "a specific example," or "some examples," etc., means that a particular feature, structure, material, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment or example is included in at least one embodiment or example of the present invention. In this specification, the schematic representations of the terms used above do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment or example. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, materials, or characteristics described may be combined in any suitable manner in any one or more embodiments or examples.
Details of the chemical reagents used in the examples of the present invention are as follows:
diacrylate ester liquid crystal monomer-HCM-009 (Jiangsu Hecheng new material Co., Ltd.)
Diacrylate ester liquid crystal monomer-HCM-008 (Jiangsu Hecheng new material Co., Ltd.)
Monoacrylate liquid crystal monomer-HCM-020 (Jiangsu Hecheng new material Co., Ltd.)
Monoacrylate liquid crystal monomer-HCM-021 (Jiangsu Hecheng new material Co., Ltd.)
photoinducer-Irg-819 (Kunshan century dragon chemical industry Co., Ltd.)
Polymerization inhibitor-4-methoxyphenol (Hubei neutralization chemical industry Co., Ltd.)
A PDMS precursor and a crosslinking agent DC184(DOW CORNING), wherein the DC184 specifically comprises the PDMS precursor and the crosslinking agent, and the crosslinking agent and the PDMS precursor are purchased as a set
Dichloromethane (Tianjin Zhiyuan chemical reagent limited)
Example 1
An electrically controlled soft actuator is shown in fig. 1 and comprises a power supply assembly (not shown in the figure), a first conducting layer 3 and a second conducting layer 2 which are oppositely arranged, an electric response liquid crystal polymer layer 1 is arranged between the first conducting layer 3 and the second conducting layer 2, an insulating substrate 4 is arranged on one side, away from the electric response liquid crystal polymer layer 1, of the first conducting layer 3, the insulating substrate 4 is an elastomer (PDMS elastomer), and the first conducting layer 3 is close to one side, parallel to liquid crystal molecules in the electric response liquid crystal polymer layer 1, of the parallel arrangement. The first conductive layer 3 and the second conductive layer 2 are silver layers, and the thickness of each silver layer is about 50 nm. The power supply assembly comprises an alternating current power supply and a voltage controller connected in series with the alternating current power supply, the first conducting layer 3 and the second conducting layer 2 are respectively and electrically connected with the power supply assembly, and when no voltage is applied, the arrangement mode of liquid crystal molecular directors in the electric response liquid crystal polymer layer 1 is in splay arrangement. The thickness of the electrically responsive liquid crystalline polymer layer 1 is about 20 nm; the thickness of the insulating substrate 4 is about 50 nm.
The electric response liquid crystal polymer layer 1 is a liquid crystal polymer network obtained by ultraviolet polymerization and thermal polymerization of a liquid crystal monomer mixture, a photo-initiator and a polymerization inhibitor. The liquid crystal monomer mixture comprises a diacrylate liquid crystal monomer and a monoacrylate liquid crystal monomer.
The preparation method of the electric control soft actuator comprises the following steps:
preparing liquid crystal monomer mixture
Taking 1.0g of raw materials in total according to the following mixture ratio: specifically, according to the weight percentage, 24.5 weight percent of HCM-009, 24.5 weight percent of HCM-008, 49 weight percent of HCM-020, 1.98 weight percent of photoinducer and 0.02 weight percent of polymerization inhibitor. Dissolving the raw materials in 2ml of solvent dichloromethane (or dichloromethane with other volume can be used, the raw materials can be dissolved in the dichloromethane), stirring at 60 ℃ for 300r/min until the solvent is completely volatilized, and slowly cooling to room temperature to obtain a mixture I. The liquid crystal film has the advantages that complete polymerization can be achieved by adopting the raw material ratio, the electric response effect is good, deformation is completely recovered after power failure, the viscosity and flexibility of the liquid crystal film are good, and desorption from the glass substrate is facilitated.
(II) preparation of liquid Crystal Polymer films
The single-side surface of the first light-transmitting substrate is coated with a parallel alignment layer, the velvet cloth is rubbed and oriented for multiple times to form parallel ravines, and the single-side surface of the second light-transmitting substrate is coated with a vertical alignment layer. And oppositely arranging the surface of the first transparent substrate provided with the parallel alignment layer and the surface of the second transparent substrate provided with the vertical alignment layer, and pressing by using an acrylate pressure-sensitive adhesive with the thickness of 20 mu m to form a closed space, thereby obtaining the liquid crystal box with the thickness of 20 mu m. Filling the mixture I obtained in the step (I) into a liquid crystal box at 75 ℃, adjusting the temperature to 40 ℃, and inducing the liquid crystal molecules to form a splay arrangement under the action of the vertical alignment layer and the parallel alignment layer to obtain a mixture II. Polymerizing for 30min under 365nm ultraviolet light, finally thermally polymerizing for 15min at 120 ℃, and naturally cooling to room temperature to obtain a transparent liquid crystal polymer film, namely an electric response liquid crystal polymer layer.
(III) vapor deposition of conductive layer
And (3) removing the upper glass substrate and the lower glass substrate, respectively evaporating a first conducting layer and a second conducting layer on the upper surface and the lower surface of the electric response liquid crystal polymer layer, wherein the first conducting layer and the second conducting layer are obtained by a vacuum evaporation method, the conducting layer is made of silver, and the thickness of the conducting layer is about 50 nm.
(IV) applying an insulating substrate
And spin-coating the PDMS mixed solution on the first conducting layer, and leaving a certain area of the first conducting layer exposed to access the circuit. The PDMS mixed solution is prepared by mixing a precursor of PDMS and a cross-linking agent in a mass ratio of 9: 1, mixing and preparing, placing in a vacuum pump, and vacuumizing for 10min to remove bubbles (the vacuum degree is-0.085 Mpa, and can be other vacuum degrees meeting the requirement of removing bubbles). And spin-coating PDMS mixed solution on the first conductive layer at 1000rpm for 20s, and curing at 60 deg.C for 2 h.
Example 2
The difference from example 1 is that in the preparation method:
preparing liquid crystal monomer mixture
Taking 1.0g of raw materials in total according to the following mixture ratio: specifically, according to the weight percentage, 24.5 wt% of HCM-009, 24.5 wt% of HCM-021, 49 wt% of HCM-020, 1.98 wt% of photoinducer and 0.02 wt% of polymerization inhibitor. Dissolving the raw materials in 2ml of solvent dichloromethane (or dichloromethane with other volume can be used, the raw materials can be dissolved in the dichloromethane), stirring at 60 ℃ for 300r/min until the solvent is completely volatilized, and slowly cooling to room temperature to obtain a mixture I.
(II) preparation of liquid Crystal Polymer films
Filling the mixture I obtained in the step (I) into a liquid crystal box at 70 ℃, adjusting the temperature to 40 ℃ to obtain a mixture II, polymerizing for 30min under 365nm ultraviolet light, finally thermally polymerizing for 15min at 120 ℃, and naturally cooling to room temperature to obtain a transparent liquid crystal polymer film, namely an electric response liquid crystal polymer layer.
Namely: the present embodiment is different from embodiment 1 in that: preparing the material of the liquid crystal monomer mixture in the step (I) and preparing the temperature parameter of the electric response liquid crystal polymer layer in the step (II).
The experimental effect of the embodiment 2 is equivalent to that of the embodiment 1, and the prepared electric control soft actuator can achieve the same deformation effect as the embodiment 1.
In addition, except that the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer disclosed in embodiment 1-2 are both silver layers, the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer may be gold layers, silver layers or other conductive materials, that is, the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer may both be conductive.
Test examples
The test example tests the performance of the electrically controlled soft actuator prepared in example 1. The deformation performance of the electric control soft actuator is tested when the driving voltage is not applied and when the driving voltage is applied, and the test result is shown in fig. 4. The test conditions were: the upper and lower conducting layers in the electric control soft actuator are respectively and electrically connected with two poles of an alternating current power supply component, the access voltage is 60V, and the frequency is 900 kHz.
As can be seen from fig. 4, the upper and lower conductive layers in the electrically controlled soft actuator are electrically connected to the two electrodes of the power module, respectively, and after a voltage is applied, the molecular arrangement of the electrically responsive liquid crystal polymer layer can be controlled from the spreading region to a region parallel to the electric field, so that the soft actuator curls upward and rapidly returns to the initial arrangement state after the electric field is removed. The soft actuator can realize the conversion between the curling state and the flattening state by electrifying and not electrifying. Has wide research and application prospect in the fields of software actuators, mechanical arms, artificial muscles and the like.
Meanwhile, the electric response liquid crystal polymer layer is obtained by ultraviolet polymerization and thermal polymerization of a liquid crystal monomer mixture, a photo-initiator and a polymerization inhibitor, two groups of liquid crystal diacrylates (HCM-009 and HCM-008) or (HCM-009 and HCM-021) are selected to form a polymer network, and a single-acrylate (HCM-020) containing cyano groups is connected into the polymer network at one section to initially form a side chain type liquid crystal polymer network containing electric response groups. The film was fully polymerized under uv light using uv light to activate the photoinitiator (Irg-819) to form LCNs (liquid crystal polymers).
In addition, the invention adopts proper raw material proportion to achieve complete polymerization, has good electric response effect, completely recovers deformation after power failure, has good viscosity and flexibility of the electric response liquid crystal polymer layer, and is convenient to desorb from the glass substrate. The raw material ratio is as follows: the mass portion ratio of the HCM-008, the HCM-009, the HCM-020, the photo-inducer and the polymerization inhibitor is (20-25): 45-48): 1-2): 0.01-0.03, or the mass portion ratio of the HCM-009, the HCM-021, the HCM-020, the photo-inducer and the polymerization inhibitor is (20-25): 45-48): 1-2): 0.01-0.03.
The invention can control the curling degree of the electric control soft actuator by controlling the magnitude of the access voltage. Specifically, the larger the access voltage is, the larger the curling degree of the electronic control soft actuator is. The invention can also control the curling degree of the electric control soft actuator by controlling the frequency of the accessed alternating voltage. The frequency of the alternating voltage is specifically as follows: the range of the access voltage comprises 10-80V. Preferably, the range of the access voltage comprises 20-80V. The frequency of the alternating voltage comprises 700kHz-1 MHz. Preferably, the frequency of the alternating voltage comprises 700kHz-900 kHz. Meanwhile, the electric control soft actuator disclosed by the invention has higher electric response sensitivity, and the bending response of the electric control soft actuator can be realized when the access voltage is 10V. The invention adopts an alternating current power supply, has wide application range and is beneficial to the application of the electric control soft actuator in the fields of software actuators, mechanical arms, artificial muscles and the like.
It is noted that "about" as used herein in reference to a numerical value means 2% error.
The embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, but the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various changes can be made within the knowledge of those skilled in the art without departing from the gist of the present invention. Furthermore, the embodiments of the present invention and the features of the embodiments may be combined with each other without conflict.

Claims (10)

1. An electric control soft actuator is characterized by comprising a conducting layer, wherein the conducting layer at least comprises a first conducting layer and a second conducting layer, an electric response liquid crystal polymer layer is arranged between the first conducting layer and the second conducting layer, and when no voltage is applied between the adjacent conducting layers, the arrangement mode of liquid crystal molecular directors in the electric response liquid crystal polymer layer is in splay arrangement.
2. The electrically controlled soft actuator according to claim 1, further comprising a power module, wherein the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer are electrically connected to the power module respectively; preferably, the power supply assembly comprises an alternating current power supply and a voltage controller connected in series with the alternating current power supply.
3. An electrically controlled soft actuator according to claim 1, wherein said electrically responsive liquid crystal polymer layer is a liquid crystal polymer network layer; preferably, the raw materials of the electric response liquid crystal polymer layer comprise a liquid crystal monomer mixture, a photoinducer and a polymerization inhibitor; preferably, the mass part ratio of the liquid crystal monomer mixture to the photo-inducer is (85-98) to (1-2); preferably, the ratio of the mass parts of the photo-inducer to the polymerization inhibitor is (1-2) to (0.01-0.03), and preferably, the liquid crystal monomer mixture comprises a diacrylate liquid crystal monomer and a monoacrylate liquid crystal monomer; preferably, the diacrylate liquid crystal monomer comprises; at least one of HCM-008 or HCM-009; preferably, the monoacrylate liquid crystal monomer comprises; at least one of HCM-020 or HCM-021; preferably, the liquid crystal monomer mixture comprises: HCM-008, HCM-009, and HCM-020; preferably, the mass part ratio of the HCM-008, the HCM-009 and the HCM-020 is (20-25): (45-48); preferably, the liquid crystal monomer mixture comprises: HCM-009, HCM-020 and HCM-021; preferably, the mass part ratio of the HCM-009, the HCM-021 and the HCM-020 is (20-25): (45-48); preferably, the thickness of the electrically responsive liquid crystalline polymer layer is 10 to 50 nm.
4. The electrically controlled soft actuator according to claim 1, further comprising an insulating substrate disposed on a side of the first conductive layer facing away from the electrically responsive liquid crystal polymer layer; preferably, the first conducting layer is close to one side of the electric response liquid crystal polymer layer, wherein liquid crystal molecules are arranged in parallel; preferably, the insulating substrate is an elastomer; preferably, the insulating substrate comprises a PDMS elastomer; preferably, the raw material of the insulating substrate comprises a precursor of PDMS and a cross-linking agent; preferably, the thickness of the insulating substrate is 20-50 nm.
5. An electrically controlled soft actuator according to claim 1, wherein the material of the first conductive layer comprises at least one of gold or silver; preferably, the material of the second conductive layer comprises at least one of gold or silver; preferably, the thickness of the first conducting layer is 30-100 nm; preferably, the thickness of the first conducting layer is about 50 nm; preferably, the thickness of the second conducting layer is 30-100 nm; preferably, the thickness of the second conductive layer is about 50 nm.
6. The preparation method of the electric control soft actuator is characterized by comprising the following steps of:
s1, electrically responding to the liquid crystal polymer layer raw material mixture I, and inducing liquid crystal molecules in the mixture I to form spreading region arrangement to obtain a mixture II;
s2, carrying out photopolymerization and thermal polymerization on the mixture II with the spread area arrangement obtained in the step S1 to obtain an electric response liquid crystal polymer layer;
and S3, assembling the electric response liquid crystal polymer layer obtained in the step S2 with the first conducting layer and the second conducting layer to obtain the electric control soft actuator.
7. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein in step S1, the liquid crystal molecules in mixture i are induced to form a splay alignment by an alignment layer, the alignment layer comprising a vertical alignment layer and a parallel alignment layer.
8. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein in step S3, the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer are assembled on both sides of the electrically responsive liquid crystal polymer layer by evaporation.
9. The method of claim 6, further comprising a step S4 of preparing an insulating substrate on a side of the conductive layer facing away from the electrically responsive liquid crystal polymer layer, wherein the side of the conductive layer is close to a side of the electrically responsive liquid crystal polymer layer where the liquid crystal molecules are arranged in parallel; preferably, the side of the first conducting layer is spin-coated with polydimethylsiloxane mixed solution, and the insulating substrate is formed after thermal curing.
10. Use of the electrically controlled soft actuator according to any one of claims 1 to 5 or the electrically controlled soft actuator prepared by the method according to any one of claims 6 to 9 in the field of soft actuators, mechanical arms or artificial muscles.
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US20070108407A1 (en) * 2005-10-26 2007-05-17 Jawad Naciri Controlled actuated membranes and methods of making same
JP2009191117A (en) * 2008-02-13 2009-08-27 Tokai Rubber Ind Ltd Liquid crystal elastomer and actuator using the same
CN104375336A (en) * 2013-08-13 2015-02-25 天马微电子股份有限公司 Stereoscopic display
CN109756147A (en) * 2018-12-13 2019-05-14 西安交通大学 A kind of looper biomimetic features and manufacturing process based on liquid crystal elastomeric polymer
CN113248751A (en) * 2021-04-20 2021-08-13 华南师范大学 Liquid crystal elastomer film and preparation method and application thereof

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* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20070108407A1 (en) * 2005-10-26 2007-05-17 Jawad Naciri Controlled actuated membranes and methods of making same
JP2009191117A (en) * 2008-02-13 2009-08-27 Tokai Rubber Ind Ltd Liquid crystal elastomer and actuator using the same
CN104375336A (en) * 2013-08-13 2015-02-25 天马微电子股份有限公司 Stereoscopic display
CN109756147A (en) * 2018-12-13 2019-05-14 西安交通大学 A kind of looper biomimetic features and manufacturing process based on liquid crystal elastomeric polymer
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