Bioinspired shape-morphing soft magnetic actuators have potential applications in medicine, robotics, and engineering due to their soft body, untethered control, and infinite degrees of freedom. The shape programming of the soft magnetic actuators (consisting of soft ferromagnetic CI particles in a soft matrix) is an involved task, as it requires a moulding process severely limiting the capability to program complex shapes. The current study explores a shape programming technique that architects the particle pattern configuration in the actuator, mimicking the pattern found in the mould-programmed actuator, thereby eliminating the need for a mould and providing a greater capability of programming complex shapes. At first, actuators with some basic shapes are prepared using the mould programming technique and examined under a microscope to understand the configuration of particle alignment patterns in different shapes. Then, the pattern is architected using magnetic units in the soft matrix to eliminate the need for mould for shape programming. In this study, the programmed soft actuators are characterized for shape morphing and locomotion capability under an external actuating magnetic field. The crawler was found to move at a velocity of 3 mm s under a periodic magnetic field of 1 Hz. The designed actuators are found to quickly respond to the magnetic field thereby generating the desired shapes.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/d4sm01450b | DOI Listing |
Soft Matter
January 2025
Department of Applied Mechanics and Biomedical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, 600036, Tamil Nadu, India.
Bioinspired shape-morphing soft magnetic actuators have potential applications in medicine, robotics, and engineering due to their soft body, untethered control, and infinite degrees of freedom. The shape programming of the soft magnetic actuators (consisting of soft ferromagnetic CI particles in a soft matrix) is an involved task, as it requires a moulding process severely limiting the capability to program complex shapes. The current study explores a shape programming technique that architects the particle pattern configuration in the actuator, mimicking the pattern found in the mould-programmed actuator, thereby eliminating the need for a mould and providing a greater capability of programming complex shapes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSoft Matter
January 2025
Center of Excellence in Energy Conversion (CEEC), Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran.
Recent progress in digital microfluidics has revealed the distinct advantages of liquid marbles, such as minimal surface friction, reduced evaporation rates, and non-wettability compared to uncoated droplets. This study provides a comprehensive examination of an innovative technique for the precise, contamination-free manipulation of non-magnetic water liquid marbles (WLMs) carried by a ferrofluid liquid marble (FLM) under the control of direct current (DC) and pulse-width modulation (PWM) magnetic fields. The concept relies on the phenomenon in which an FLM and WLMs form a shared meniscus when placed together on a water surface, causing the WLMs to closely track the magnetically actuated FLM.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSmall
January 2025
School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Beihang University, Beijing, 100191, China.
Magnetic microrobots are significant platforms for targeted drug delivery, among which sperm-inspired types have attracted much attention due to their flexible undulation. However, mass production of sperm-like soft magnetic microrobots with high-speed propulsion is still challenging due to the need of more reasonable structure design and facile fabrication. Herein, a novel strategy is proposed for large-scale preparation of microalgae-based soft microrobots with a fully magnetic head-to-tail structure, called AlgaeSperm with robust propulsion and chemo-photothermal performance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Rep
January 2025
Department of Otorhinolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, P.O. Box 263, 00029, Helsinki, Finland.
Three-dimensional (3D) modeling is often used to provide better visual understanding. This has become an everyday tool especially in medical imaging. However, modeling soft tissue histopathology in 3D is in its early stages, thus making 3D comparison between radiology and histopathology difficult.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFACS Mater Au
January 2025
Liquid Crystal Research Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Lucknow, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh 226007, India.
Polymer-dispersed liquid crystals (PDLCs) stand at the intersection of polymer science and liquid crystal technology, offering a unique blend of optical versatility and mechanical durability. These composite materials are composed of droplets of liquid crystals interspersed in a matrix of polymeric materials, harnessing the optical properties of liquid crystals while benefiting from the structural integrity of polymers. The responsiveness of LCs combined with the mechanical rigidity of polymers make polymer/LC composites-where the polymer network or matrix is used to stabilize and modify the LC phase-extremely important for scientists developing novel adaptive optical devices.
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