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An on-demand plant-based actuator created using conformable electrodes

Nature Electronics volume 4, pages 134–142 (2021)Cite this article

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Abstract

Owing to their adaptive interfacial properties, soft actuators can be used to perform more delicate tasks than their rigid counterparts. However, traditional polymeric soft actuators rely on energy conversion for actuation, resulting in high power input or slow responses. Here we report an electrical plant-based actuator that uses a conformable electrical interface as an electrical modulating unit and a Venus flytrap as an actuating unit. Using frequency-dependent action-potential modulation, accurate on-demand actuation is possible, with response times that can be tuned to 1.3 s and a power input of only 10−5 W. The actuator can be wirelessly controlled using a smartphone. It can also be installed on a range of platforms (including a finger and a robotic hand) and can be used to grasp thin wires and capture moving objects.

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Fig. 1: Electrically modulated biohybrid phytoactuator.
Fig. 2: Flytrap stimulation by d.c. voltage.
Fig. 3: Frequency-dependent modulation of flytrap actuation.
Fig. 4: Integration of a modular electrical phytoactuator with other platforms.

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Data availability

The data that support the plots in this paper and other findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Code availability

The code to program the ESP8266 Wi-Fi module in the Blynk IoT platform is available at https://github.com/Wenlong0-0/Wireless-control-of-phytoactuator.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge financial support from the National Research Foundation (NRF), Prime Minister’s Office, Singapore, under its NRF Investigatorship (NRF-NRFI2017-07) and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) under its AME Programmatic Funds (project no. A18A1b0045) on Cyber-Physiochemical Interfaces (CPI) Programme. N.M. was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) overseas research fellowship. Finally, we thank A. L. Chun for critically reading and editing the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Innovative Center for Flexible Devices (iFLEX), Max Planck–NTU Joint Lab for Artificial Senses, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

    Wenlong Li, Naoji Matsuhisa, Zhiyuan Liu, Ming Wang, Yifei Luo, Pingqiang Cai, Geng Chen, Feilong Zhang, Chengcheng Li, Zhihua Liu, Zhisheng Lv, Wei Zhang & Xiaodong Chen

  2. NTU Institute for Health Technologies, Interdisciplinary Graduate Programme, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

    Wenlong Li

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  1. Wenlong Li
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Contributions

W.L., N.M. and X.C. designed the project and experiments. Zhiyuan Liu assisted with the conformable electrode design, fabrication and characterization. W.L. and M.W. synthesized and characterized the adhesive hydrogel. Y.L. and W.L. prepared the cross-section of the plant and hydrogel for the optical microscope. P.C. assisted with the fabrication of the conformable electrode. G.C. and W.L. designed and performed the adhesive strength measurement of the electrode. W.L., F.Z. and C.L. performed the flytrap electrical signal measurement, flytrap mechanical and electrical stimulation, and phytoactuator implementation. Zhihua Liu designed and manufactured the LabVIEW-controlled motorized device for the accurate capture of moving objects. Z.Lv and W.L. fabricated the AgNW and CNT conductors. W.Z. performed the transmission electron microscopy investigation for the Au nanomesh. W.L., N.M. and X.C. wrote the manuscript. All the authors read and revised the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xiaodong Chen.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Peer review information Nature Electronics thanks Ingrid Graz, Alexander Volkov and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Figs. 1–30, Tables 1–3 and refs. 1–28.

Supplementary Video 1

Integration of a modular electrical phytoactuator with other platforms.

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Li, W., Matsuhisa, N., Liu, Z. et al. An on-demand plant-based actuator created using conformable electrodes. Nat Electron 4, 134–142 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-020-00530-4

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