High Energy and Power Density Peptidoglycan Muscles through Super-Viscous Nanoconfined Water.

ABSTRACT: Water-responsive (WR) materials that reversibly deform in response to humidity changes show great potential for developing muscle-like actuators for miniature and biomimetic robotics. Here, it is presented that Bacillus (B.) subtilis' peptidoglycan (PG) exhibits WR actuation energy and power densities reaching 72.6 MJ m^-3 and 9.1 MW m^-3 , respectively, orders of magnitude higher than those of frequently used actuators, such as piezoelectric actuators and dielectric elastomers. PG can deform as much as 27.2% within 110 ms, and its actuation pressure reaches ≈354.6 MPa. Surprisingly, PG exhibits an energy conversion efficiency of ≈66.8%, which can be attributed to its super-viscous nanoconfined water that efficiently translates the movement of water molecules to PG's me

SUBMITTER: Wang H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9130901 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature