Wax-Coated Graphene Oxide Films as Moisture-Responsive Actuators

Abstract

Recently, soft actuators with the capabilities of stimuli response have attracted great attention and shown potential application prospects in soft robots. The critical factor of soft actuators to realize practical applications is the programmable shape deformations. However, it remains a challenge to develop a simple and versatile method to design a soft actuator with programmable deformations. Herein, we report a programmable graphene oxide (GO)/wax moisture-responsive actuator through water-shaping and heat-welding methods. Diverse actuators with different initial shapes can be achieved by the water-shaping method, which provides the possibility for preparing actuators with various desired shapes. Additionally, more complex 3D configurations of actuators can be programmed by the heat-welding method. As proof-of-concept demonstrations, several soft robots, such as a bionic walking robot, a grasping robot, and a weight-bearing robot, are demonstrated. Certainly, the versatile and simple programming methods of soft actuators hold great potential for intelligent robotics.