UV-Photomechanical MXene-Polymer Trilayer Actuator

The use of photomechanical actuators has recently received increased attention in the soft robotics community due to their clear advantages in terms of wireless control, compactness, and cost. However, there are technical challenges for these actuators, particularly repeatability and the extent of actuation. MXene-based photomechanical actuation is a promising alternative to achieve repeatable and high response. However, existing works do not fully utilize photomechanical materials and require high concentration of MXenes. They also use inefficient light source for MXene, requiring sunlight or infrared light. To address these challenges, we demonstrate MXene-polymer trilayer actuators (MPTAs). We characterized the effect of trilayer composite design based on thermosetting photopolymers and paper, and then MXene concentrations, on their displacement and force. Over multiple cycles, an optimized MPTA assembled into kirigami-inspired spider structure exhibited consistent displacement and force that were comparable to existing works, with a fraction of MXene concentration used.