Large stroke radially oriented MXene composite fiber tensile artificial muscles

JS Fu and YC Li and TZ Zhou and SL Fang and MM Zhang and YL Wang and K Li and WW Lian and L Wei and RH Baughman and QF Cheng, SCIENCE ADVANCES, 11, eadt1560 (2025).

DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adt1560

Actuation is normally dramatically enhanced by introducing so much yarn fiber twist that the fiber becomes fully coiled. In contrast, we found that usefully high muscle strokes and contractile work capacities can be obtained for non-twisted MXene (Ti3C2Tx) fibers comprising MXene nanosheets that are stacked in the fiber direction. The MXene fiber artificial muscles are called MFAMs. We obtained MFAMs that have high modulus in both the radial and axial directions by spinning a solution containing MXene nanosheets dispersed in an aqueous cellulose solution. We observed a highly reversible muscle contraction of 21.0% for a temperature increase from 25 degrees to 125 degrees C. The tensile actuation of MFAMs mainly results from reversible hydrogen bond orientation change during heating, which decreases intra-sheet spacing. The MFAMs exhibited fast, stable actuation to multiple temperature- generating stimuli, which increases their applications in smart textiles, robotic arms, and robotic grippers.

Return to Publications page