Artificial muscle heals itself
Monday, 14 April 2008 Eric Bland
Unlike other artificial muscles, these ones keep running by repairing their own faults (Source: iStockphoto)
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Researchers say they have created an artificial muscle that heals itself and generates electricity.
The research, parts of which are already being used in Japan to generate electricity from ocean waves, could be used to make walking robots, develop better prosthetics, or even charge your mp3 player.
"We've made an artificial muscle that, when you apply electricity to it, it expands [more than 200%]," says study author Professor Qibing Pei, a scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles.
"The motion and energy are a lot like human muscles."
Artificial muscles have been around for years but some get so big they tear, developing uneven film thickness and random particles that cause muscle failure.
The researchers used flexible, evermore ubiquitous carbon nanotubes as electrodes instead of other films, often metal-based, that fail after repeated use.
If an area of the carbon nanotube fails, the region around it seals itself by becoming non-conductive and prevents the fault from spreading to other areas.
"During long-term tests with the new device the actual material experiences a number of events but still worked," says Pei, whose work appears in the journal Advanced Materials.
By 'events' Pei means they stabbed the artificial muscle with pins. Any other artificial muscle would have failed, but their model kept operating.
The self-healing muscle is also energy efficient.
"It conserves about 70% of the energy you put into it," says Pei.
As the material contracts after an expansion the rearranging of the carbon nanotubes generates a small electric current that can be captured and used to power another expansion or stored in a battery.
Scientists in Japan charge batteries from ocean waves using the same idea. Other scientists have speculated that the artificial muscle could be used to capture wind energy.
"The way he's put these carbon nanotubes together is really quite innovative," says Professor Kwang Kim, a material scientist at the University of Nevada, Reno who was not involved in the research.
"Some people want to use this to charge their batteries."
Tags: engineering, inventions, bones-and-muscles, anatomy
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