Wearable Sunlight-Triggered Bimorph Textile Actuators

• Published in: Nano letters 2021-10, Vol.21 (19), p.8126-8134
• Main Authors: Zhao, Hongtao, Qi, Xiangjun, Ma, Yulong, Sun, Xuantong, Liu, Xuqing, Zhang, Xueji, Tian, Mingwei, Qu, Lijun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1530-6984; 1530-6992
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c02578

Photothermal bimorph actuators have attracted considerable attention in intelligent devices because of their cordless control and lightweight and easy preparation. However, current photothermal bimorph actuators are mostly based on films or papers driven by near-infrared sources, which are deficient in flexibility and adaptability, restricting their potential in wearable applications. Herein, a bimorph textile actuator that can be scalably fabricated with a traditional textile route and autonomously triggered by sunlight is reported. The active layer and passive layer of the bimorph are constructed by polypropylene tape and a MXene-modified polyamide filament. Because of the opposite thermal expansion and MXene-enhanced photothermal efficiency (>260%) of the bimorph, the textile actuator presents effective deformation (1.38 cm–1) under low sunlight power (100 mW/cm2). This work provides a new pathway for wearable sunlight-triggered actuators and finds attractive applications for smart textiles.