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Science & Tech.
Pradeep Kumar

11/08/21 12:25 PM IST

Porous carbon nano-particles

In news

Using porous carbon nanoparticles from waste onion peels, a team of scientists have developed soft robotic actuators with enhanced photomechanical capacity.

Details
  • The actuators can act as efficient traps for the illuminating low-power near-infrared (NIR) light and can convert a control signal into mechanical motion with bioengineering applications such as drug delivery, wearable and assistive devices, prostheses, and even artificial organs.
  • Soft robots or actuators consisting of rubber-like polymer with embedded nanomaterials which convert a source of energy to mechanical motion have been gaining much interest with targeted applications in areas including bio-medical, military, and remote space operations.
  • Generation of predesigned motion facilitated by their flexibility, affordability, and easy customization are the main reasons for such interest. 
  • The high thermal conductivity of these nanoforms results in rapid distribution of the heat generated locally by thermal and photo-thermal stimuli.
  • To take these actuators to the next level of development, heat traps can be created to capture and contain the generated heat for slightly longer durations such that the achieved photomechanical actuation can be enhanced.
  • The team also found with an additional ultrathin (30 nm) gold layer, the actuation magnitude could be more than doubled, and more importantly, bidirectional photo-controlled face-sensitive movement realized. 
Source: PIB

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