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2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Liquid metal-polymer composites for electro-active soft actuators

Research Project

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Project/Area Number 19K22216
Research Category

Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)

Allocation TypeMulti-year Fund
Review Section Medium-sized Section 35:Polymers, organic materials, and related fields
Research InstitutionYokohama National University

Principal Investigator

Ueno Kazuhide  横浜国立大学, 大学院工学研究院, 准教授 (30637377)

Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) 太田 裕貴  横浜国立大学, 大学院工学研究院, 准教授 (30528435)
小久保 尚  横浜国立大学, 大学院工学研究院, 特別研究教員 (80397091)
Project Period (FY) 2019-06-28 – 2021-03-31
Keywords液体金属 / ゲル / 電子伝導性 / イオン伝導性
Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this project is to open up a new research field of soft composite materials (metal gels) in which Ga-based liquid metals and functional polymer materials are composited at the nano-micro level, and apply them to electrochemical actuator. In order to combine the organic polymer phase and the liquid metal phase, which are immiscible, in a microphase-separated, bi-continuous state, we examined two methods, the monolith method and the casting method, and found that a metal gel can be produced by either method. It was clarified that the mechanical properties and electron conductivity of the metal gel are greatly affected by the oxide thin-film formed on the surface of Ga-based liquid metal. It was also shown that the electron conductivity of the metal gel was improved to 106 times when prepared in the absence of oxygen.

Free Research Field

高分子電気化学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

流体、ゲル、エラストマー等で構成される柔らかい素材を用いたロボットは自由に変形可能な特性を生かし、生物類似の複雑な動作を可能とすることから重要な研究領域(ソフトロボティクス)となっている。また、同様に柔軟な素材を用いたソフトエレクトロニクス分野では蒸気圧が無く、人体に無害な液体金属を用いたウェアラブルデバイスが盛んに研究されている。このような柔軟素材を用いたデバイスは人体への親和性や生活環境への適応性が高く、医療分野をはじめ様々な方面への応用が期待されている。本研究成果をもとに、高伸縮性電子伝導材料を開発することで上記分野への応用展開が期待できる。

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Published: 2022-01-27  

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