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Tan MWM, Wang H, Gao D, Huang P, Lee PS. Towards high performance and durable soft tactile actuators. Chem Soc Rev 2024; 53:3485-3535. [PMID: 38411597 DOI: 10.1039/d3cs01017a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/28/2024]
Abstract
Soft actuators are gaining significant attention due to their ability to provide realistic tactile sensations in various applications. However, their soft nature makes them vulnerable to damage from external factors, limiting actuation stability and device lifespan. The susceptibility to damage becomes higher with these actuators often in direct contact with their surroundings to generate tactile feedback. Upon onset of damage, the stability or repeatability of the device will be undermined. Eventually, when complete failure occurs, these actuators are disposed of, accumulating waste and driving the consumption of natural resources. This emphasizes the need to enhance the durability of soft tactile actuators for continued operation. This review presents the principles of tactile feedback of actuators, followed by a discussion of the mechanisms, advancements, and challenges faced by soft tactile actuators to realize high actuation performance, categorized by their driving stimuli. Diverse approaches to achieve durability are evaluated, including self-healing, damage resistance, self-cleaning, and temperature stability for soft actuators. In these sections, current challenges and potential material designs are identified, paving the way for developing durable soft tactile actuators.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew Wei Ming Tan
- School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore, 639798, Singapore.
- Singapore-HUJ Alliance for Research and Enterprise (SHARE), Smart Grippers for Soft Robotics (SGSR), Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE), Singapore, 138602, Singapore
| | - Hui Wang
- School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore, 639798, Singapore.
| | - Dace Gao
- School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore, 639798, Singapore.
| | - Peiwen Huang
- School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore, 639798, Singapore.
| | - Pooi See Lee
- School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore, 639798, Singapore.
- Singapore-HUJ Alliance for Research and Enterprise (SHARE), Smart Grippers for Soft Robotics (SGSR), Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE), Singapore, 138602, Singapore
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Qian X, Chen X, Zhu L, Zhang QM. Fluoropolymer ferroelectrics: Multifunctional platform for polar-structured energy conversion. Science 2023; 380:eadg0902. [PMID: 37167372 DOI: 10.1126/science.adg0902] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 23.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/13/2023]
Abstract
Ferroelectric materials are currently some of the most widely applied material systems and are constantly generating improved functions with higher efficiencies. Advancements in poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF)-based polymer ferroelectrics provide flexural, coupling-efficient, and multifunctional material platforms for applications that demand portable, lightweight, wearable, and durable features. We highlight the recent advances in fluoropolymer ferroelectrics, their energetic cross-coupling effects, and emerging technologies, including wearable, highly efficient electromechanical actuators and sensors, electrocaloric refrigeration, and dielectric devices. These developments reveal that the molecular and nanostructure manipulations of the polarization-field interactions, through facile defect biasing, could introduce enhancements in the physical effects that would enable the realization of multisensory and multifunctional wearables for the emerging immersive virtual world and smart systems for a sustainable future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoshi Qian
- State Key Laboratory of Mechanical System and Vibration, Interdisciplinary Research Centre, and MOE Key Laboratory for Power Machinery and Engineering, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
| | - Xin Chen
- Materials Research Institute and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
| | - Lei Zhu
- Department of Macromolecular Science and Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA
| | - Q M Zhang
- Materials Research Institute and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
- School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
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Basdogan C, Giraud F, Levesque V, Choi S. A Review of Surface Haptics: Enabling Tactile Effects on Touch Surfaces. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON HAPTICS 2020; 13:450-470. [PMID: 32340960 DOI: 10.1109/toh.2020.2990712] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
In this article, we review the current technology underlying surface haptics that converts passive touch surfaces to active ones (machine haptics), our perception of tactile stimuli displayed through active touch surfaces (human haptics), their potential applications (human-machine interaction), and finally, the challenges ahead of us in making them available through commercial systems. This article primarily covers the tactile interactions of human fingers or hands with surface-haptics displays by focusing on the three most popular actuation methods: vibrotactile, electrostatic, and ultrasonic.
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Abstract
This study proposes a novel skinny button with multimodal audio and haptic feedback to enhance the touch user interface of electronic devices. The active material in the film-type actuator is relaxor ferroelectric polymer (RFP) poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene-chlorofluoroethylene) [P(VDF-TrFE-CFE)] blended with poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene) [P(VDF-TrFE)], which produces mechanical vibrations via the fretting vibration phenomenon. Normal pressure applied by a human fingertip on the film-type skinny button mechanically activates the locally concentrated electric field under the contact area, thereby producing a large electrostrictive strain in the blended RFP film. Multimodal audio and haptic feedback is obtained by simultaneously applying various electric signals to the pairs of ribbon-shaped top and bottom electrodes. The fretting vibration provides tactile feedback at frequencies of 50–300 Hz and audible sounds at higher frequencies of 500 Hz to 1 kHz through a simple on-off mechanism. The advantage of the proposed audio-tactile skinny button is that it restores the “click” sensation to the popular virtual touch buttons employed in contemporary electronic devices.
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