How much do you know about Cornell's microscale chemical actuator for autonomous...

Cornell engineers develop microscale chemical actuator for autonomous devices

• Cornell engineers have developed a microscale chemical actuator that can respond to chemical environments.
• The actuator is made of ultrathin catalytic sheets that can convert chemical energy into mechanical energy.
• The actuator can operate at room temperature and at a cycle time of 600 milliseconds in dry environments.
• The project was led by senior author Nicholas Abbott, a Tisch University Professor in the Robert F. Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering in Cornell Engineering.
• The co-lead authors of the paper are Nanqi Bao, Ph.D. '22, and former postdoctoral researcher Qingkun Liu, Ph.D. '22.
• The researchers exploited a loophole in a catalysis experiment to find a way to create a chemical actuator that can operate at room temperature.
• The actuator operates by exploiting the rapid kinetic moment that occurs when oxygen quickly strips hydrogen, causing the material to deform and bend.
• The researchers collaborated with theorists from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, who used electronic structure calculations to dissect the chemical reaction.
• The technique could be applied to other catalytic metals, such as palladium and palladium gold alloys.
• The work could lead to the creation of a new fleet of tiny autonomous devices that can rapidly respond to their chemical environment.
• The project is part of the Nanoscale Science and Microsystems Engineering (NEXT Nano) program.
• The research was supported by the Cornell Center for Materials Research, which is supported by the National Science Foundation's MRSEC program, the Army Research Office, the NSF, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and the Kavli Institute at Cornell for Nanoscale Science.