A high-resilience artificial muscle imitating squid gill and a preparation method thereof

Abstract

The application discloses a high-resilience artificial muscle imitating a squid gill and a preparation method thereof, and belongs to the technical field of artificial muscles. The artificial muscle comprises a plurality of gap electric brake films and electrode films which are distributed at intervals and are bonded into artificial muscle layers by a hydrogel, and the artificial muscle layers are spliced and assembled into a squid gill top end structure by conductive glue. The gap electric brake film is prepared by cross-linking a sodium metaaluminate solution and a polyacrylamide solution and then drying the cross-linked solution by a roller scraper drying method. The electrode film is prepared from a composite gel and carbon quantum dots. The hydrogel is prepared by adding distilled water and polyacrylamide into a dry beaker and stirring the mixture in a magnetic stirrer. The preparation method has good flexibility, excellent stretchability and low cost, and plays a more important role in the field of artificial muscles.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of artificial muscle technology, and in particular to a highly resilient artificial muscle that mimics squid gills and its preparation method. Background Technology

[0002] Artificial muscles are flexible materials or devices that perform work without the need for mechanical devices, driven by electric fields or chemicals. Artificial muscles play important roles in bionics, medical devices, aerospace, and military weaponry. Traditional artificial muscles have achieved some success in these fields, but their flexibility, tensile strength, and self-healing properties are somewhat lacking, limiting the development of the artificial muscle field.

[0003] Squid are soft-bodied, mantle-bound marine animals without a vertebral column. Their gills are vital respiratory organs, and the gill undulations occur approximately every 7-8 seconds. Currently, research on squid gills is limited, making it essential to develop a method for achieving high-resilience artificial squid gill muscles that control their flexibility, strength, and stretchability. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The purpose of this invention is to provide a highly resilient artificial muscle that mimics squid gills. This muscle is simple to prepare, inexpensive, produces high-quality products, and has a long fatigue life. Furthermore, the invention provides optimized polyacrylamide concentration, sodium aluminate solution dosage, carrageenan and konjac gum blending ratio, water-soluble carbon quantum dot dosage, and process parameters related to this preparation method. This results in a biomimetic artificial muscle with high strain, good softness, light weight, and tensile strength.

[0005] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention provides a highly resilient artificial muscle that mimics squid gills, comprising a spaced-apart multi-porous electro-mechanical membrane and an electrode membrane, which are bonded together by hydrogel to form artificial muscle sheets. The artificial muscle sheets are then spliced ​​and assembled with conductive adhesive to form the tip structure of a squid gill.

[0006] Preferably, the multi-pore electro-hydraulic membrane is prepared by cross-linking sodium aluminate solution and polyacrylamide solution and then drying by a roller scraper method; the electrode membrane is prepared by composite gel and carbon quantum dots; the hydrogel is prepared by adding distilled water and polyacrylamide to a drying beaker and stirring in a magnetic stirrer to obtain the hydrogel.

[0007] This application provides a method for preparing the above-mentioned highly resilient squid gill-like artificial muscle, comprising the following steps:

[0008] Step 1: Turn on the magnetic stirrer, place a beaker containing distilled water inside, then add polyacrylamide to the beaker to dissolve it. After dissolving, add sodium aluminate solution, heat in a water bath for 20 minutes, then add glycerin, mix well to obtain the electro-braking solution.

[0009] Step 2: The electro-actuated solution obtained in Step 1 is placed into a petri dish. Then, the solution is poured from the petri dish into the feed trough of a small drum scraper dryer. The drum temperature is set to 55°C. As the drum rotates, the solution passes through the lower feed trough, and the heat is transferred through pipes to the inner wall of the drum and then to the outer wall, indirectly heating the material film. This causes the moisture in the material film to evaporate, and the film adheres to the drum surface. After evaporation, the material film on the drum surface is scraped off the drum by a scraper and transferred to a screw conveyor below the scraper. The screw conveyor then produces the multi-pore electro-actuated membrane product.

[0010] Step 3: Turn on the magnetic stirrer, add the composite gel and water-soluble carbon quantum dots to the beaker, add glycerin, continue stirring and let stand to obtain the electrode film solution;

[0011] Step 4: Place the mold on the workbench and position it. Then open the mold and spray a layer of parting agent on its inner and outer surfaces. Next, pour the electrode film solution obtained in Step 3 into the mold and perform investment casting. After the casting process is completed, let it stand and carefully remove the electrode film from the mold with a bamboo knife to obtain the desired electrode film.

[0012] Preferably, in step 3, the composite gel includes carrageenan and konjac gum in a mass ratio of 5:2; the konjac gum and carrageenan are first added to a beaker containing distilled water and heated in a water bath at 50°C to obtain the composite gel.

[0013] Preferably, in step 1, the stirring speed of the magnetic stirrer is set to 50%, and the stirring temperature is 50°C.

[0014] Preferably, in step 3, the volume ratio of water-soluble carbon quantum dots to glycerol is 25:3.

[0015] Preferably, in step 4, the injection time of the injection machine is 1 hour, the injection pressure is 0.1 MPa, and the centrifugal casting temperature is 75°C.

[0016] Preferably, the separating agent includes a sol or an aromatic aqueous solution.

[0017] Therefore, this application provides a highly resilient artificial muscle resembling squid gills and its preparation method, which has the following beneficial effects:

[0018] (1) Using sodium aluminate (NaAlO2) to crosslink polyacrylamide to prepare an electro-actuated membrane solution can improve the stability of the multi-pore electro-actuated membrane. NaAlO2 is a weak acid-strong base salt. After ionization and hydration in aqueous solution, the solution is alkaline and exists in the form of hydroxyl compound anions. Polyacrylamide is the most widely used water-soluble polymer and a non-ionic derivative with good water solubility and chemical activity. When the pH value is 7-9, sodium aluminate will crosslink with the non-ionic derivative of polyacrylamide containing ortho-cis carboxyl groups through coordination and polar bonds using its carboxyl compound anions. This greatly increases the flexibility and fracture energy of the multi-pore electro-actuated membrane, while also improving its chemical properties.

[0019] (2) Carrageenan with good viscosity and hydrophilicity and konjac gum with high flexibility are selected for compounding to increase the elasticity of the electrode membrane. Water-soluble carbon quantum dots with electrical and thermal conductivity are added. Then, the distilled water in the gel electrode membrane is evaporated by a melt-casting centrifugal molding method to obtain an electrode membrane that mimics the artificial muscle of squid gills. The thermal conductivity, flexibility and tensile strength of the membrane are excellent. Attached Figure Description

[0020] Figure 1 This is a process flow diagram of the anti-fatigue method for the high-resilience artificial squid gill muscle of the present invention.

[0021] Figure 2 This is a three-dimensional structural schematic diagram of the high-resilience squid gill-like artificial muscle of the present invention.

[0022] Figure 3 This is a partially enlarged view of the multi-layered structure of the high-resilience squid gill-like artificial muscle of the present invention.

[0023] Figure 4 This is a diagram showing the internal structure of the multi-porous electro-actuated membrane inside the high-resilience squid gill artificial muscle of the present invention.

[0024] Figure 5 This is a diagram of the self-recovering structure of the high-resilience squid gill-like artificial muscle of the present invention, which demonstrates fatigue resistance.

[0025] Figure 6 This is a microstructure diagram of the multi-porous electro-actuated membrane inside the high-resilience squid gill artificial muscle of the present invention.

[0026] Figure Labels

[0027] 1-Electrode film, 2-Electro-actuated film, 3-Conductive adhesive. Detailed Implementation

[0028] Example 1

[0029] A type of highly resilient artificial muscle mimicking squid gills, such as Figure 1As shown, it includes three stages: preparing the electro-actuated membrane solution, namely, sodium aluminate (NaAlO2) solution crosslinked with polyacrylamide solution; preparing the multi-porous electro-actuated membrane (drum scraper drying method) to construct an electro-actuated membrane 2 with a "spherical mesh"-like multi-porous structure, as shown. Figure 4 As shown; an electrode film 1 with good conductivity was prepared by using a composite gel of carrageenan and konjac gum, and then adding water-soluble carbon quantum dots (similar to investment casting). This electrode film was then spaced together with an electro-actuated membrane 2 and bonded together with a hydrogel to obtain an artificial muscle sheet, as shown. Figure 3 As shown; the artificial muscle sheets are assembled into a three-dimensional structure resembling the shape of "squid gill tips" using conductive adhesive 3, which improves their conductivity and tensile strength. Figure 2 As shown. At the same time, the whole process is simple to operate, low in cost and applicable to multiple fields, thus producing artificial squid gill muscles with strong resilience, good flexibility, light weight and tensile strength.

[0030] The method for preparing artificial muscles is as follows:

[0031] Step 1: Turn on the magnetic stirrer, set the stirring speed to 50%, and the temperature to 50°C. Place a beaker containing 60ml of distilled water inside the stirrer. Measure 1.8g of a 30g / L polyacrylamide solution using a precision electronic analytical balance. After the solution is completely dissolved, slowly pour in 8ml of a 2.5g / L sodium aluminate (NaAlO2) solution and mix thoroughly. Maintain heating in a water bath for 20 minutes, then add a dropper (3ml) of glycerin and mix well to obtain the electro-actuating fluid.

[0032] Step 2: Place the electro-braking solution obtained in Step 1 into... The solution is first placed in a petri dish, then poured from the petri dish into the feed trough of a small drum scraper dryer. The drum temperature is set to 55℃. As the drum rotates, the solution passes through the lower feed trough, and the heat is transferred through pipes to the inner wall of the drum and then to the outer wall, indirectly heating the film. This causes the moisture in the film to evaporate for 15 minutes, and the film adheres to the drum surface. After evaporation, the film on the drum surface is scraped off the drum by a scraper and transferred to a screw conveyor below the scraper. The screw conveyor then produces the multi-pore electro-actuated membrane. During the operation of the drum scraper dryer, the film-forming state of the electro-actuated membrane should be observed in a timely manner. The membrane should not be too wet or too dry, in order to maintain good tensile strength of the multi-pore electro-actuated membrane.

[0033] Step 3: Prepare an electrode film with good conductivity using a similar investment casting method: combined with Figure 1 and Figure 3Turn on the magnetic stirrer and add 1g of carrageenan and 0.4g of konjac gum to a beaker containing 40ml of distilled water. After heating in a water bath and stirring for 30min, add 25ml of water-soluble carbon quantum dots and 3ml of glycerol, continue stirring for 15min until homogeneous, and then let stand to obtain the electrode film solution.

[0034] Step 4: Position the prepared mold on the worktable of the injection molding machine. Open the mold and spray a layer of solvent ethanol onto the inner and outer surfaces of the mold to prevent excessive mold temperature from damaging the physical properties of the film. After all preparations are complete, set the drying parameters: injection pressure 0.1 MPa, temperature 75℃, and time 1 hour. Then, pour the electrode film solution obtained in Step 3 into the mold and perform investment casting. After the casting process is complete, let it stand and carefully remove the electrode film from the mold with a bamboo knife to obtain the desired electrode film.

[0035] Take a beaker in a drying oven, add 40 ml of distilled water and 1.5 g of polyacrylamide, and stir for 15 min in a magnetic stirrer to obtain a hydrogel. The electrode film and the multi-pore electro-actuation film prepared above are then interleaved and bonded together with the hydrogel to obtain an artificial muscle sheet. Its thermal conductivity, flexibility, and tensile properties are shown in Table 1.

[0036] Table 1 Performance data of Example 1

[0037] project Thermal conductivity (W / (m·K)) Flexibility (cm) Tensile strength (%) Electrode film 0.5 7.76 240

[0038] Artificial muscle sheets are assembled into a three-dimensional structure resembling the "tip of a squid's gills" using conductive adhesive. Figure 1 and Figure 2 The artificial muscle sheets are spliced ​​together layer by layer using conductive adhesive, and finally assembled into a structure resembling the "gill tip of a squid". This structure has good flexibility and high resilience.

[0039] Specific working principle:

[0040] The fatigue resistance of artificial muscle mimicking squid gills refers to the ability of a material to maintain its original mechanical properties after repeated loading. Generally speaking, high-resilience artificial muscles have better fatigue resistance. However, the artificial muscle described in this paper exhibits a rapid decline in performance during continuous cyclic tensile testing, but can recover to its original state within a short time, a phenomenon known as self-recovery, thus demonstrating fatigue resistance. Moreover, this artificial muscle mimicking squid gills is a "soft material" with high ionic conductivity and similarity to biological tissue. When the longitudinal elongation at break reaches 200%, its maximum tensile stress is 0.1 MPa; after stretching to 150% elongation, the self-recovery rate reaches 90% after 30 minutes, thus demonstrating high fatigue resistance.

[0041] Comparative Example 1

[0042] Step 1: Turn on the magnetic stirrer, set the stirring speed to 50%, and the temperature to 50°C. Place a beaker containing 60ml of distilled water inside the stirrer. Measure 1.8g of a 30g / L polyacrylamide solution using a precision electronic analytical balance. After the solution is completely dissolved, slowly pour in 8ml of a 2.5g / L sodium aluminate (NaAlO2) solution and mix thoroughly. Maintain heating in a water bath for 20 minutes, then add a dropper (3ml) of glycerin and mix well to obtain the electro-actuating fluid.

[0043] Step 2: Place the electro-braking solution obtained in Step 1 into... The solution is first placed in a petri dish, then poured from the petri dish into the feed trough of a small drum scraper dryer. The drum temperature is set to 55℃. As the drum rotates, the solution passes through the lower feed trough, and the heat is transferred through pipes to the inner wall of the drum and then to the outer wall, indirectly heating the film. This causes the moisture in the film to evaporate for 15 minutes, and the film adheres to the drum surface. After evaporation, the film on the drum surface is scraped off the drum by a scraper and transferred to a screw conveyor below the scraper. The screw conveyor then produces the multi-pore electro-actuated membrane. During the operation of the drum scraper dryer, the film-forming state of the electro-actuated membrane should be observed in a timely manner. The membrane should not be too wet or too dry, in order to maintain good tensile strength of the multi-pore electro-actuated membrane.

[0044] Step 3: Prepare an electrode film with good conductivity using a similar investment casting method: combined with Figure 1 and Figure 3 Turn on the magnetic stirrer and add 1g of gelatin and 0.4g of konjac gum to a beaker containing 40ml of distilled water. After heating in a water bath and stirring for 30min, add 25ml of water-soluble carbon quantum dots and 3ml of glycerol, continue stirring for 15min until homogeneous, and then let stand to obtain the electrode film solution.

[0045] Step 4: Position the prepared mold on the worktable of the injection molding machine. Open the mold and spray a layer of solvent ethanol onto the inner and outer surfaces of the mold to prevent excessive mold temperature from damaging the physical properties of the film. After all preparations are complete, set the drying parameters: injection pressure 0.1 MPa, temperature 75℃, and time 1 hour. Then, pour the electrode film solution obtained in Step 3 into the mold and perform investment casting. After the casting process is complete, let it stand and carefully remove the electrode film from the mold with a bamboo knife to obtain the desired electrode film.

[0046] A beaker was placed in a drying oven, and 40 ml of distilled water and 1.5 g of polyacrylamide were added. The mixture was stirred for 15 minutes using a magnetic stirrer to obtain a hydrogel. The electrode film and the multi-pore electro-actuation film prepared above were then interleaved and bonded together using the hydrogel to obtain an artificial muscle sheet. The obtained data are shown in Table 2. It can be seen that the thermal conductivity of the electrode film obtained using gelatin decreased to 0.4 W / (m·K), and the tensile properties also decreased to 180%.

[0047] Table 2 Performance data for Comparative Example 1

[0048] project Thermal conductivity (W / (m·K)) Flexibility (cm) Tensile strength (%) Electrode film 0.4 6.68 180

[0049] Comparative Example 2

[0050] In step 3 of Comparative Example 2, xanthan gum was used instead of konjac gum to mix with carrageenan. The remaining steps were the same as in Example 1. The data obtained are shown in Table 3. It can be seen that the thermal conductivity of the electrode film formed by xanthan gum is similar to that of the mixture of carrageenan and konjac gum, but the flexibility and tensile properties both tend to decrease. Considering all factors, the electrode film obtained by mixing carrageenan and konjac gum has better flexibility and tensile strength.

[0051] Table 3 Performance data for Comparative Example 2

[0052] project Thermal conductivity (W / (m·K)) Flexibility (cm) Tensile strength (%) Electrode film 0.48 7.23 220

[0053] Comparative Example 3

[0054] In step 3 of Comparative Example 3, the mass ratio of carrageenan to konjac gum was 4:2. A magnetic stirrer was turned on, and 0.8 g of carrageenan and 0.4 g of konjac gum were added to a beaker containing 40 ml of distilled water. After heating in a water bath and stirring for 30 min, 25 ml of water-soluble carbon quantum dots and 3 ml of glycerol were added. Stirring was continued for another 15 min until homogeneous, and then the mixture was allowed to stand to obtain the electrode film solution. The remaining steps were the same as in Example 1. The data obtained are shown in Table 4. It can be found that when the amount of carrageenan was changed, the thermal conductivity, flexibility, and tensile properties of the film were not as good as when the mass ratio of carrageenan to konjac gum was 5:2.

[0055] Table 4 Performance data for Comparative Example 3

[0056] project Thermal conductivity (W / (m·K)) Flexibility (cm) Tensile strength (%) Electrode film 0.47 7.34 210

[0057] Comparative Example 4

[0058] In step 3 of Comparative Example 4, the mass ratio of carrageenan to konjac gum was 6:2. A magnetic stirrer was turned on, and 1.2 g of carrageenan and 0.4 g of konjac gum were added to a beaker containing 40 ml of distilled water. After heating in a water bath and stirring for 30 min, 25 ml of water-soluble carbon quantum dots and 3 ml of glycerol were added. Stirring was continued for another 15 min until homogeneous, and then the mixture was allowed to stand to obtain the electrode film solution. The remaining steps were the same as in Example 1. The data obtained are shown in Table 5. When the mass ratio of carrageenan to konjac gum was 6:2, the thermal conductivity increased, but the tensile properties could not reach the tensile length of a 5:2 ratio. Therefore, a mass ratio of 5:2 for carrageenan to konjac gum is more convincing.

[0059] Table 5 Performance data for Comparative Example 4

[0060] project Thermal conductivity (W / (m·K)) Flexibility (cm) Tensile strength (%) Electrode film 0.52 7.44 215

[0061] Therefore, this application provides a highly resilient artificial muscle mimicking squid gills. The electro-actuating fluid is prepared by cross-linking polyacrylamide with sodium aluminate solution (NaAlO2), and the electro-actuating membrane is obtained by a roller-scraper drying method. Carrageenan and konjac gum are compounded, and water-soluble carbon quantum dots are added. An electrode membrane is then prepared using a melt-casting centrifugation method, which is subsequently assembled into the artificial muscle device. This squid gill artificial muscle is simple to understand, highly adaptable, and can be widely used.

[0062] In the description of this specification, references to terms such as "an experimental example," "example," or "specific example" indicate that a specific feature, structure, material, or characteristic described in connection with that experimental example or example is included in at least one experimental example or example of the invention. In this specification, illustrative expressions of the above terms do not necessarily refer to the same experimental example or example. Furthermore, the specific features, structures, materials, or characteristics described may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more experimental examples or examples.

[0063] Finally, it should be noted that the above experimental examples are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention and not to limit them. Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to preferred experimental examples, those skilled in the art should understand that modifications or equivalent substitutions can still be made to the technical solutions of the present invention, and these modifications or equivalent substitutions cannot cause the modified technical solutions to deviate from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the present invention.

Claims

1. A highly resilient artificial muscle mimicking squid gills, characterized in that, It includes a multi-pore electro-braking membrane and an electrode membrane that are spaced apart. The two are bonded together with hydrogel to form artificial muscle sheets. The artificial muscle sheets are spliced ​​and assembled with conductive adhesive to form the gill tip structure of a squid. The multi-pore electro-hydraulic membrane is prepared by cross-linking sodium aluminate solution and polyacrylamide solution and then drying by roller scraper method; the electrode membrane is prepared by composite gel and carbon quantum dots, the composite gel includes carrageenan and konjac gum in a mass ratio of 5:2; the hydrogel is prepared by adding distilled water and polyacrylamide to a drying beaker, stirring in a magnetic stirrer to obtain the hydrogel.

2. A method for preparing a highly resilient artificial muscle resembling squid gills as described in claim 1, characterized in that, Includes the following steps: Step 1: Turn on the magnetic stirrer, place a beaker containing distilled water inside it, then add polyacrylamide to the beaker to dissolve it. After dissolving, add sodium aluminate solution, heat in a water bath for 20 minutes, then add glycerin, mix well to obtain the electro-braking solution. Step 2: Pour the electro-actuated solution obtained in Step 1 into a petri dish. Then, pour the solution from the petri dish into the material trough of a small drum scraper dryer. Set the temperature of the drum to 55°C. When the drum rotates, the solution passes through the lower material trough, and the heat is transferred to the inner wall of the drum through pipes and conducted to the outer wall of the drum, indirectly heating the material film and causing the moisture in the material film to evaporate. The material film adheres to the surface of the drum. After evaporation, the material film on the surface of the drum is scraped off the drum by a scraper and transferred to the screw conveyor below the scraper. The screw conveyor is used to produce the multi-pore electro-actuated membrane product. Step 3: Turn on the magnetic stirrer, add the composite gel and water-soluble carbon quantum dots to the beaker, add glycerin, continue stirring and let stand to obtain the electrode film solution; Step 4: Place the mold on the workbench and position it. Then open the mold and spray a layer of parting agent on its inner and outer surfaces. Next, pour the electrode film solution obtained in Step 3 into the mold and perform investment casting. After the casting process is completed, let it stand and carefully remove the electrode film from the mold with a bamboo knife to obtain the desired electrode film.

3. The method for preparing artificial muscle with high resilience similar to squid gills according to claim 2, characterized in that, In step 3, konjac gum and carrageenan are first added to a beaker containing distilled water and heated in a water bath at 50°C to obtain the composite gel.

4. The method for preparing artificial muscle with high resilience similar to squid gills according to claim 2, characterized in that, In step 1, the stirring temperature is 50℃.

5. The method for preparing artificial muscle with high resilience similar to squid gills according to claim 2, characterized in that, In step 3, the volume ratio of water-soluble carbon quantum dots to glycerol is 25:

3.

6. The method for preparing artificial muscle with high resilience similar to squid gills according to claim 2, characterized in that, In step 4, the centrifugal casting temperature is 75℃.

7. The method for preparing artificial muscle with high resilience similar to squid gills according to claim 2, characterized in that, Separating agents include sols or aromatic waters.

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