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Composite elastomers with on-demand convertible phase separations achieve large and healable electro-actuation

Materials Horizons, ISSN: 2051-6355, Vol: 10, Issue: 10, Page: 4501-4509
2023
  • 2
    Citations
  • 0
    Usage
  • 4
    Captures
  • 1
    Mentions
  • 0
    Social Media
Metric Options:   Counts1 Year3 Year

Metrics Details

  • Citations
    2
  • Captures
    4
  • Mentions
    1
    • News Mentions
      1
      • 1

Most Recent News

Zhejiang University Reports Findings in Nanoparticles (Composite elastomers with on-demand convertible phase separations achieve large and healable electro-actuation)

2023 AUG 18 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Nanotech Daily -- New research on Nanotechnology - Nanoparticles is the subject of

Article Description

Phase separation has been widely exploited for fabricating structured functional materials. Generally, after being fabricated, the phase structure in a hybrid material system has been set at a specific length scale and remains unchanged during the lifespan of the material. Herein, we report a strategy to construct on-demand and reversible phase switches among homogenous, nano- and macro-phase separation states in a composite elastomer during its lifespan. We trigger the nanophase separation by super-saturating an elastomer matrix with a carefully selected small-molecule organic compound (SMOC). The nanoparticles of SMOC that precipitate out upon quenching will stretch the elastomer network, yet remain stably arrested in the elastomer matrix at low temperatures for a long time. However, at elevated temperatures, the nano-phase separation will transform into the macro-one. The elastic recovery will drive the SMOC onto the elastomer surface. The phase-separated structures can be reconfigured through the homogeneous solution state at a further elevated temperature. Taking advantage of the reversible phase switches leads to a novel strategy for designing high-performance dielectric elastomers. The in situ formed nanoparticles can boost the electro-actuation performance by eliminating electro-mechanical instability and lead to a very large actuation strain (∼146%). Once the actuator broke down, SMOC could on-demand be driven to the breakdown holes and heal the actuator.

Bibliographic Details

Tang, Jiali; Chen, Zheqi; Cai, Yiting; Gao, Yang; He, Jin; Xiao, Youhua; Mao, Jie; Zhao, Junjie; Gao, Xiang; Li, Tiefeng; Luo, Yingwu

Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)

Materials Science; Engineering; Chemical Engineering

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