College of
ENGINEERING A supercapacitor-like Electrochemical Actuator Based on Titanium Carbide (MXene) With a growing interest into robotics and potential biomedical applications of robotic assemblies, the need for more inexpensive and reliable materials grows to match the ever rising cost of such products. One of the major steps to making efficient robotics is to develop materials with robust actuation properties. Electrochemical actuators (ECAs), in particular, utilize an electrochemical reaction to as a stimulus to drive actuation. ECAs based on two dimensional (2D) materials, such as graphene, are attracting numerous attention due to such unique properties and structures. However, electrical conductivity and bendability of pure graphene films are challenges that limits their performance. 2D based titanium carbide, discovered at Drexel in 2011 and known as MXenes, is one of the most promising candidates for ECAs. In contrast to graphene, MXenes films are not only highly flexible but they are metallically conductive. In this research a supercapacitor-like ECA based on two MXenes films separated by an aqueous solid-gel electrolyte are designed and used as ECAs. Surprisingly, MXene showed a displacement of 1.5 mm and 4 mm at small applied voltages +0.2 and +0.4V respectively. This displacement are ten times higher than graphene based materials and opens a new venue of developing micro-robotic arms or micro-cranes that can be powered at low voltages.
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Timofey Averianov College of Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Dr. Yury Gogotsi Faculty Mentor
Materials Science & Engineering
Mohamed Alhabeb
Graduate Student Co-Mentor
Poster Session C