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High-Performance Natural Melanin/Poly(vinyl Alcohol-co-ethylene) Nanofibers/PA6 Fiber for Twisted and Coiled Fiber-Based Actuator

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Abstract

Twisted and coiled fiber-based actuators have drawn a great attention because their unique structure can provide mechanical response with the external thermal stimulus. Herein, an ultra-fast and light-weight twisted and coiled fiber-based actuator was designed based on a nature melanin/poly (vinyl alcohol-co-ethylene) (PVA-co-PE) nanofibers/PA6 composite fiber. In brief, PA6 was firstly coated by melanin/PVA-co-PE nanofibers using a spraying method, followed by the twisting and coating the composite fiber to obtain the actuator. The excellent photothermal property of melanin contributed to the superior performance of the actuator, whereas the PVA-co-PE nanofibers was responsible for the uniform distribution of melanin and the enhanced mechanical property of the prepared-actuator. This unique design has led to the high performance of the melanin/NFs/PA6 fiber-based actuator, whose torsion actuation can reach to 14,000 rpm, and maximum tensile actuation was − 6.36% at temperature difference of 40 ℃. In addition, the tensile stress of PA6/NFs/melanin fiber was about four times higher than PA6 filaments. Owing to the simple and environmental-benign preparation method, as well as the excellent efficiency of twisted and coiled melanin/NFs/PA6 fiber-based actuator, this study highlights the facile design of the composite fiber for high-performance fiber-based actuators. This fiber-based actuator is promising for application in energy generator.

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Acknowledgments

The author thanks Deakin University-Wuhan Textile University joint PhD program. The authors thank Wuhan Engineering Technology Research Center for Advanced Fibers” for providing partial support for materials processing. The authors acknowledge the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51873166, 51873165), the Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province (2016CFB386), Program of Hubei Technology Innovation-International Collaboration (2017AHB065) and Applied Fundamental Research Program of Wuhan Science and Technology Bureau (2017060201010165) for financial support. The authors also acknowledge for the financial support from Wuhan Advanced Fiber Engineering Technology Research Center and the Hubei Province Central Government Guides Local Science and Technology Development Projects (2018ZYYD057).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Materials Science and Engineering, Hubei Key Laboratory of Advanced Textile Materials & Application, Wuhan Textile University, Wuhan, 430200, China

    Jiahui Chen, Lu Sun, Mengyuan Xu, Qiongzhen Liu & Dong Wang

  2. Australian Future Fibers Research and Innovation Center, Institute for Frontier Materials, Deakin University, 75 Pigdons Road, Geelong, VIC, 3220, Australia

    Jiahui Chen, Esfandiar Pakdel, Wanjie Xie & Lu Sun

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  1. Jiahui Chen
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  2. Esfandiar Pakdel
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  3. Wanjie Xie
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  4. Lu Sun
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  6. Qiongzhen Liu
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  7. Dong Wang
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Correspondence to Dong Wang.

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Chen, J., Pakdel, E., Xie, W. et al. High-Performance Natural Melanin/Poly(vinyl Alcohol-co-ethylene) Nanofibers/PA6 Fiber for Twisted and Coiled Fiber-Based Actuator. Adv. Fiber Mater. 2, 64–73 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42765-020-00036-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42765-020-00036-w

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