Graphene/elastomer composite-based photo-thermal nanopositioners
Citations Over TimeTop 10% of 2013 papers
Abstract
The addition of nanomaterials to polymers can result not only in significant material property improvements, but also assist in creating entirely new composite functionalities. By dispersing graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) within a polydimethylsiloxane matrix, we show that efficient light absorption by GNPs and subsequent energy transduction to the polymeric chains can be used to controllably produce significant amounts of motion through entropic elasticity of the pre-strained composite. Using dual actuators, a two-axis sub-micron resolution stage was developed, and allowed for two-axis photo-thermal positioning (~100 μm per axis) with 120 nm resolution (feedback sensor limitation), and ~5 μm/s actuation speeds. A PID control loop automatically stabilizes the stage against thermal drift, as well as random thermal-induced position fluctuations (up to the bandwidth of the feedback and position sensor). Maximum actuator efficiency values of ~0.03% were measured, approximately 1000 times greater than recently reported for light-driven polymer systems.
Related Papers
- → Print your own membrane: direct rapid prototyping of polydimethylsiloxane(2014)161 cited
- → 3D reactive inkjet printing of polydimethylsiloxane(2017)63 cited
- → Observation of chemically protected polydimethylsiloxane: towards crack-free PDMS(2017)32 cited
- → Perforated membrane method for fabricating three-dimensional polydimethylsiloxane microfluidic devices(2008)52 cited
- A novel method for fabricating polydimethylsiloxane microfluidic chip master molds(2009)