Ion implanted dielectric elastomer circuits

Abstract

Starfish and octopuses control their infinite degreeof-freedom arms with panache-capabilities typical of nature where the distribution of reflex-like intelligence throughout soft muscular networks greatly outperforms anything hard, heavy, and man-made. Dielectric elastomer actuators show great promise for soft artificial muscle networks. One way to make them smart is with piezo-resistive Dielectric Elastomer Switches (DES) that can be combined with artificial muscles to create arbitrary digital logic circuits. Unfortunately there are currently no reliable materials or fabrication process. Thus devices typically fail within a few thousand cycles.As a first step in the search for better materials we present a preliminary exploration of piezo-resistors made with filtered cathodic vacuum arc metal ion implantation. DES were formed on polydimethylsiloxane silicone membranes out of ion implanted gold nano-clusters. We propose that there are four distinct regimes (high dose, above percolation, on percolation, low dose) in which gold ion implanted piezo-resistors can operate and present experimental results on implanted piezo-resistors switching high voltages as well as a simple artificial muscle inverter. While gold ion implanted DES are limited by high hysteresis and low sensitivity, they already show promise for a range of applications

Stretchable and Skin-Conformable Conductors Based on Polyurethane/Laser-Induced Graphene

“…Alternatively, creation of stretchable conductive nanocomposites has been investigated by means of metal nanoparticle implantation into elastomers. Both filtered cathodic vacuum arc metal ion implantation of gold nanoparticles on PDMS and supersonic cluster beam implantation of neutral metal nanoparticles onto ionogels have been demonstrated and applied to fabrication of actuators for soft robotics. With the aim to avoid the use of expensive cleanroom techniques or exotic materials and to reduce the overall fabrication complexity, various strategies for printing of metal nanoparticles or other inorganic/organic conductors onto elastomers have been proposed. − Printing is often followed by heat or flash lamp annealing to attain sintering and thus higher conductivity of printed conductors.…”

Analysis and application of a rolled dielectric elastomer actuator with two degrees of freedom

“…However, it should be noted that the motion performance of DEAs with the on-board amplifier (such as the EMCO product) cannot reach the same level as with an external tethered amplifier (saying the Trek product) based on our experimental results. Recently, some researchers [153][154][155] have also been started to design the custom-built circuits for dielectric elastomer based devices. Development of the autonomous DEA-driven soft robots is of course an interesting topic in the near future.…”

A solid-state dielectric elastomer switch for soft logic

“…1,8 It is now possible to control the flow of charge on or off the DE device using a piezoresistive Dielectric Elastomer Switch (DES), 8 a soft high voltage resistor that changes resistance by at least three orders of magnitude when stretched. This approach has been demonstrated for automatic charge control on a self-commutating motor, 9 a soft energy harvester, 10 oscillators, 8,11 and an artificial muscle computer.…”

“…11 Implications for this are significant as it forms the foundation for a truly soft robotic device that, supplied with DC voltage, can autonomously produce a lifelike vibratory motion.…”

“…17 The design of the artificial muscle ring oscillator was inspired by a previous oscillator. 11 In this modular version, two DEAs that pull the single Ni-PDMS DES opposite in tension were required in order to generate sufficient strain for switch activation (Figure 4). A modular design was also adopted to allow for rapid material benchmarking and easy interchange of different switching materials.…”