天津大学杨静团队报道了用于-78°C极地探险的高度可拉伸、自我修复、敏感的电子皮肤。相关研究成果发表在2024年3月22日出版的《美国化学会杂志》。

超低温耐受电子皮肤（e-skins）可以赋予极地机器人，在极冷极地环境中探索的触觉反馈。然而，开发能够在超低温下实现灵敏触感和自我修复的电子皮肤仍然是一个挑战。

该文中，研究人员描述了一种灵敏的机械手电子皮肤的开发，该皮肤可以在低至-78°C的温度下拉伸、自愈和感知。这种e-skin的弹性体基底基于聚（二甲基硅氧烷）超分子聚合物和多强度动态氢键，特别是具有四重氢键基序（UPy）。

研究人员探究了弹性体在超低温下的结构与性能关系。结果表明，侧链UPy单元的弹性体比主链UPy单元具有更高的拉伸性（～3257%）和自修复效率。这归因于较低的结合能变化和较低的势阱。基于带有侧链UPy的弹性体和人造电墨水，构建了一种在-78°C下使用的灵敏机械手电子皮肤，可以精确感知物体和特定符号的形状，其感觉在受损后可以完全自我恢复。

该项研究的发现有助于，在极地环境中人类的参与受到限制、危险或不可能时，使用电子皮肤机械手。

附：英文原文

Title: Highly Stretchable, Self-Healing, and Sensitive E-Skins at -78 °C for Polar Exploration

Author: Kai Yang, Qingsi Li, Shu Tian, Jiancheng Wang, Guangming Lu, Hongshuang Guo, Sijia Xu, Lei Zhang, Jing Yang

Issue&Volume: March 22, 2024

Abstract: Ultralow temperature-tolerant electronic skins (e-skins) can endow polar robots with tactile feedback for exploring in extremely cold polar environments. However, it remains a challenge to develop e-skins that enable sensitive touch sensation and self-healing at ultralow temperatures. Herein, we describe the development of a sensitive robotic hand e-skin that can stretch, self-heal, and sense at temperatures as low as -78 °C. The elastomeric substrate of this e-skin is based on poly(dimethylsiloxane) supramolecular polymers and multistrength dynamic H-bonds, in particular with quadruple H-bonding motifs (UPy). The structure–performance relationship of the elastomer at ultralow temperatures is investigated. The results show that elastomers with side-chain UPy units exhibit higher stretchability (～3257%) and self-healing efficiency compared to those with main-chain UPy units. This is attributed to the lower binding energy variation and lower potential well. Based on the elastomer with side-chain UPy and man-made electric ink, a sensitive robotic hand e-skin for usage at -78 °C is constructed to precisely sense the shape of objects and specific symbols, and its sensation can completely self-recover after being damaged. The findings of this study contribute to the concept of using robotic hands with e-skins in polar environments that make human involvement limited, dangerous, or impossible.

DOI: 10.1021/jacs.4c00541

Source: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jacs.4c00541