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Strain-controlled Graphene-Polymer Angular Actuator

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Abstract

We demonstrate a suspended graphene-(poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) polymer angular displacement actuator enabled by variable elastic modulus of the perforated stacked structure. Azimuthal flexures support a central disc-shaped membrane, and compression of the membrane can be used to control the rotation of the entire structure. Irradiating the PMMA on graphene stack with 5 kV electrons in a convention scanning electron microscope reduces the elastic modulus of the PMMA and allows graphene’s built in strain to dominate and compress the flexures, thus rotating the actuator.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA

    S. Matt Gilbert, Adam Molnar, Donez Horton-Bailey, Helen Y. Yao & Alex Zettl

  2. Materials Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA

    S. Matt Gilbert, Donez Horton-Bailey & Alex Zettl

  3. Kavli Energy Nanosciences Institute, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA

    S. Matt Gilbert, Adam Molnar, Donez Horton-Bailey, Helen Y. Yao & Alex Zettl

Authors
  1. S. Matt Gilbert
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  2. Adam Molnar
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  3. Donez Horton-Bailey
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  4. Helen Y. Yao
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  5. Alex Zettl
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Gilbert, S.M., Molnar, A., Horton-Bailey, D. et al. Strain-controlled Graphene-Polymer Angular Actuator. MRS Advances 4, 2161–2167 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1557/adv.2019.276

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/adv.2019.276

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