Hierarchically buckled sheath-core fibers for superelastic electronics, sensors, and muscles

作者：Liu, Z. F.; Fang, S.^*; Moura, F. A.; Ding, J. N.; Jiang, N.; Di, J.; Zhang, M.; Lepro, X.; Galvao, D. S.; Haines, C. S.; Yuan, N. Y.; Yin, S. G.; Lee, D. W.; Wang, R.; Wang, H. Y.; Lv, W.; Dong, C.; Zhang, R. C.; Chen, M. J.; Yin, Q.; Chong, Y. T.; Zhang, R.; Wang, X.; Lima, M. D.; Ovalle-Robles, R.; Qian, D.; Lu, H.; Baughman, R. H.

来源：Science, 2015, 349(6246): 400-404.

DOI：10.1126/science.aaa7952

• CARBON NANOTUBE FORESTS
• HUMAN-MOTION DETECTION
• DIELECTRIC ELASTOMERS
• ARTIFICIAL MUSCLES
• STRETCHABLE CONDUCTORS
• STRAIN
• TRANSPARENT
• PERFORMANCE
• GRAPHENE
• ACTUATORS

Superelastic conducting fibers with improved properties and functionalities are needed for diverse applications. Here we report the fabrication of highly stretchable (up to 1320%) sheath-core conducting fibers created by wrapping carbon nanotube sheets oriented in the fiber direction on stretched rubber fiber cores. The resulting structure exhibited distinct short-and long-period sheath buckling that occurred reversibly out of phase in the axial and belt directions, enabling a resistance change of less than 5% for a 1000% stretch. By including other rubber and carbon nanotube sheath layers, we demonstrated strain sensors generating an 860% capacitance change and electrically powered torsional muscles operating reversibly by a coupled tension-to-torsion actuation mechanism. Using theory, we quantitatively explain the complementary effects of an increase in muscle length and a large positive Poisson's ratio on torsional actuation and electronic properties.

• 出版日期2015-7-24
• 单位常州大学; 江苏大学; 西北工业大学; 天津理工大学