Buckling analysis of functionally graded nanobeams under non-uniform temperature using stress-driven nonlocal elasticity

In this work,the size-dependent buckling of functionally graded(FG)Bernoulli-Euler beams under non-uniform temperature is analyzed based on the stressdriven nonlocal elasticity and nonlocal heat conduction.By utilizing the variational principle of virtual work,the governing equations and the associated standard boundary conditions are systematically extracted,and the thermal effect,equivalent to the induced thermal load,is explicitly assessed by using the nonlocal heat conduction law.The stressdriven constitutive integral equation is equivalently transformed into a differential form with two non-standard constitutive boundary conditions.By employing the eigenvalue method,the critical buckling loads of the beams with different boundary conditions are obtained.The numerically predicted results reveal that the growth of the nonlocal parameter leads to a consistently strengthening effect on the dimensionless critical buckling loads for all boundary cases.Additionally,the effects of the influential factors pertinent to the nonlocal heat conduction on the buckling behavior are carefully examined.

Evolution of surfaces and mechanisms of contact electrification between metals and polymers

Contact electrification(CE)is a pretty common phenomenon,but still is poorly understood.The long-standing controversy over the mechanisms of CE related to polymers is particularly intense due to their complexity.In this paper,the CE between metals and polymers is systematically studied,which shows the evolution of surfaces is accompanied by variations of CE outputs.The variations of CE charge quantity are closely related to the creep and deformation of the polymer and metal surfaces.Then the relationship between CE and polymer structures is put forward,which is essentially determined by the electronegativity of elements and the functional groups in the polymers.The effects of load and contact frequency on the CE process and outputs are also investigated,indicating the increase of CE charge quantity with load and frequency.Material transfer from polymer to metal is observed during CE while electrons transfer from metal to polymer,both of which are believed to have an influence on each other.The findings advance our understanding of the mechanism of CE between metal and polymers,and provides insights into the performance of CE-based application in various conditions,which sheds light on the design and optimization of CE-based energy harvest and self-powered sensing devices.

Ionic polymer metal composites actuators with enhanced driving performance by incorporating graphene quantum dots

In order to further improve the driving performance of ionic polymer metal composites(IPMCs),Nafion/graphene quantum dots(GQDs)hybrid membranes incorporating GQDs with various contents of 0,0.1 wt.%,0.5 wt.%,1.0 wt.%,2.0 wt.%and 4.0 wt.%were fabricated by solution casting,and then IPMCs were manufactured by electroless plating.The water contents and elastic moduli of the hybrid membranes were tested.The morphology characteristics of the hybrid membranes and the IPMCs were observed,and the current,AC impedance,blocking force and displacement of the IPMCs were measured.The results show that the elastic modulus of the hybrid membranes decreases,the water content increases,and the actuation performance of the IPMCs improves significantly after the addition of GQDs.IPMC with 1.0 wt.%GQDs exhibits the best driving property.Compared with the IPMC without GQDs,the working current,ion conductivity,blocking force,and tip displacement increase by 94.67%,311.11%,53.66%,and 66.07%,respectively.These results lay a solid foundation for the preparation of IPMCs with high performance,and further broaden their applications in biomedical devices and bionic robots.

Effective metal mold method for the production of bionic adhesives based on electrochemical modifications

Bionic adhesives with tip-expanded microstructural arrays have attracted considerable interest owing to their high adhesive performance at low preloads.Their mainstream manufacturing method is molding.Due to most molds are made of silicon or silicon-based soft templates,and have poor wear resistant or vulnerability to high temperature,limiting their use in large-scale manufacturing.Nickel is widely used as an embossing mold in the micro/nano-imprint industrial process owing to its good mechanical properties.However,the processing of metal molds for the fabrication of tip-expanded microstructural arrays is extremely challenging.In this study,using electrodeposition techniques,the shape of the micropores is modified to obtain end-controlled pores.The effect of the non-uniformity of the electric field on the microporous morphology in the electrodeposition process is systematically investigated.Furthermore,the mechanism of non-uniformity evolution of the microporous morphology is revealed.The optimized microporous metal array is used as a mold to investigate the cavity evolution laws of the elastic cushions under pre-load during the manufacturing process.As a result,typical bionic adhesives with tip-expansion are obtained.Moreover,corresponding adhesion mechanics are analyzed.The results show that electrochemical modifications have broad application prospects in the fabrication of tip-expanded microstructures,providing a new method for the large-scale fabrication of bionic adhesives based on metal molds.

Resistance reduction of patterned surface inspired by cuticle structure of Achalinus spinalis

The crawling process of snakes is known to have fascinating tribological phenomena,whereas investigations on their frictional properties depending on patterned cuticles are insufficient.In this study,we have designed and fabricated biomimetic microstructures inspired by the geometric microunits of Achalinus spinalis cuticle using polyurethane acrylate(PUA)material and performed its tribological analysis.The micro-morphology of this Achalinus-inspired textured polymer surface(AITPS)is characterized by the closely and evenly quasi-rectangular microgrooves,periodically arranged along certain orientations.We have compared the frictional performance of our fabricated AITPS with other competitive microstructure,using a smooth steel ball and commercial clay as an interacting surface.After performing massive friction tests with steel ball and clay,AITPS still maintains good resistance reduction performed compared to the patterned surface with straight microgrooves,which is most likely due to the reduction of actual contact areas at the frictional interface.

Switchable shape memory polymer bio-inspired adhesive and its application for unmanned aerial vehicle landing

Controlled and switchable adhesion is commonly observed in biological systems.In recent years,many scholars have focused on making switchable bio-inspired adhesives.However,making a bio-inspired adhesive with high adhesion performance and excellent dynamic switching properties is still a challenge.A Shape Memory Polymer Bio-inspired Adhesive(SMPBA)was successfully developed,well realizing high adhesion(about 337 kPa),relatively low preload(about90 kPa),high adhesion-to-preload ratio(about 3.74),high switching ratio(about 6.74),and easy detachment,which are attributed to the controlled modulus and contact area by regulating temperature and the Shape Memory Effect(SME).Furthermore,SMPBA exhibits adhesion strength of80–337 kPa on various surfaces(silicon,iron,and aluminum)with different roughness(Ra=0.021–10.280)because of the conformal contact,reflecting outstanding surface adaptability.The finite element analysis verifies the bending ability under different temperatures,while the adhesion model analyzes the influence of preload on contact area and adhesion.Furthermore,an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle(UAV)landing device with SMPBA was designed and manufactured to achieve UAV landing on and detaching from various surfaces.This study provides a novel switchable bio-inspired adhesive and UAV landing method.

Review on Improvement,Modeling,and Application of Ionic Polymer Metal Composite Artificial Muscle

Recently,researchers have concentrated on studying ionic polymer metal composite(IPMC)artificial muscle,which has numerous advantages including a relatively large strain under low input voltage,flexibility,high response,low noise,light weight,and high driving energy density.This paper reports recent developments in IPMC artificial muscle,including improvement methods,modeling,and applications.Different types of IPMCs are described,along with various methods for overcoming some shortcomings,including improvement of Nafion matrix membranes,surface preparation of Nafion membranes,the choice of high-performing electrodes,and new electro-active polymers for enhancing the properties of IPMCs.IPMC models are also reviewed,providing theoretical guidance for studying the performance and applications of IPMCs.Successful applications such as bio-inspired robots,opto-mechatronic systems,and medical engineering are discussed.

Effects of Cu^2＋ Counter Ions on the Actuation Performance of Flexible Ionic Polymer Metal Composite Actuators

The resistance of Ionic Polymer Metal Composite （IPMC） electrodes plays an important role in the actuation performance of IPMC actuators. Owing to crack formation on the surface of platinum electrode, the surface resistance of the electrode increases, which greatly limits its actuating performance. In this paper, we proposed a new method of dynamic self-repair electrodes by ex- changing Cu2＋ into the IPMC basement membrane. IPMC actuators with Cu2＋ were prepared and the actuation performance in the air was subsequently measured. Compared with conventional IPMC actuators containing Li＋ counter ions, those containing Cu2＋ counter ions exhibited 2 times - 3 times larger displacement and 2 times -3 times bigger blocking force. In the morphology observation, we found that many small copper particles scattered in the middle of cracks after several bending cycles, which leads to an obvious decrease in electrode resistance. In the Cyclic Voltammetry （CV） scan measurement, we observed that the oxidation reaction of copper alternates with reduction reaction of copper ions with the change of voltage polarity, which was a dynamic process. Based on these analyses, it is concluded that the presence of Cu2＋ can repair the damaged electrodes and induce lower electrode resistance, thus leading to the performance improvement of actuation.

Advanced Electro-active Dry Adhesive Actuated by an Artificial Muscle Constructed from an Ionic Polymer Metal Composite Reinforced with Nitrogen-doped Carbon Nanocages

An advanced electro-active dry adhesive, which was composed of a mushroom-shaped tibrillar dry adhesive array actuated by an Ionic Polymer Metal Composite （IPMC） artificial muscle reinforced with nitrogen-doped carbon nanocages （NCNCs）, was developed to imitate the actuation of a gecko＇s toe. The properties of the NCNC-reinforced Nation membrane, the electro- mechanical properties of the NCNC-reinforced IPMC, and the related electro-active adhesion ability were investigated. The NCNCs were uniformly dispersed in the 0.1 wt% NCNC/Nafion membrane, and there was a seamless connection with no clear interface between the dry adhesive and the IPMC. Our 0.1 wt% NCNC/Nation-IPMC actuator shows a displacement and force that are 1.6 - 2 times higher than those of the recast Nafion-IPMC. This is due to the increased water uptake （25.39%） and tensile strength （24.5 MPa） of the specific 3D hollow NCNC-reinforced Nation membrane, as well as interactions between the NCNCs and the sulfonated groups of the Nation. The NCNC/Nation-IPMC was used to effectively actuate the mushroom-shaped dry adhesive. The normal adhesion forces were 7.85 raN, 12.1 mN, and 51.7 mN at sinusoidal voltages of 1.5 V, 2.5 V, and 3.5 V, respectively, at 0.1 Hz. Under the bionic leg trail, the normal and shear forces were approximately 713.5 mN （159 mN·cm^-2） and 1256.6 mN （279 mN·cm^-2）, respectively, which satisfy the required adhesion. This new electro-active dry adhesive can be applied for active, distributed actuation and flexible grip in robots.

Optimized Bio-inspired Micro-pillar Dry Adhesive and Its Application for an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Adhering on and Detaching from a Ceiling

Various bio-inspired dry adhesive materials have been investigated.In this work,lithography and silicon deep etching method were used to fabricate bio-inspired micro-pillar dry adhesive materials of which the parameters,such as side length,Height to Side length Aspect Ratio(HSAR),and inter-pillar Distance to Side length Aspect Ratio(DSAR)were comprehensively studied to obtain a dry adhesive with high adhesion.An orthogonal array method was designed and a series of fabrication experiments were conducted to identify optimum parameters,which resulted in a high normal adhesion of 2.98 N·cm^-2 and a shear adhesion of 9.59 N·cm^-2.An adhesion and desorption device was further designed on basis of the optimum dry adhesive,which enables an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle(UAV)to successfully adhere on and detach from a ceiling.This would allow an UAV to stay aloft for prolonged time,which could be invaluable to many applications,such as energy conservation and aerial detection.

The square rod-shaped ionic polymer-metal composite and its application in interventional surgical guide device

Ionic polymer-metal composite(IPMC)is an electro-active polymer material,which has many advantages such as small size,light weight,low driving voltage,large strain,and good biocompatibility.However,the conventional sheet IPMC has the shortcoming of only bending in the two-dimensional plane,which greatly limits the application of IPMC in the field of interventional surgery.In this work,a square rodshaped IPMC with multi-degree-of-freedom motion was fabricated,and the displacement and blocking force of the square rod-shaped IPMC in different directions are measured and analyzed under the DC voltage signal.An interventional catheter was designed using the square rod-shaped IPMC in order to achieve active guidance,and a simulation experiment platform and a model of human aorta were built to successfully complete the in vitro simulation experiment of interventional surgery,which preliminarily verified the feasibility of the square rod-shaped IPMC in the field of interventional surgery.

Contact Electrification and Adhesion Between Carbon Nanotube and Graphene on Metal Surfaces: Insights from First-principles Study

The effect of contact electrification on adhesion has been debated in recent years for gecko and bio-inspired dry adhesion material.To understand the fundamentals of this issue for Carbon Nanotube(CNT)dry adhesives,contact electrification and its relationship with adhesion are systematically studied using the first-principles calculation.Charge transfers from CNT or its special form,graphene,to the metal surface during the contact,and the transferred charge linearly correlates with the work function difference.Meanwhile,the adhesion energy is linearly related to the transferred charge for both CNT and graphene.More charge transfers from the flat graphene to metal surfaces than the curved CNT,leading to higher adhesion between graphene and metal surfaces.The curved structure of the CNT causes an irregular change of charge at the interface and hinders the charge transfer.Moreover,the curved structure induces electronic localization,which also decreases the interfacial charge transfer.The structure affects contact electrification,and hence adhesion is further demonstrated by the CNT with different deformation when contacting different surfaces.This study advances our understanding of contact electrification and its relationship with adhesion at the interface for bio-inspired carbon adhesive materials and sheds light on the control of them for engineering applications.