Graphene-based actuators.

The development of new mechanical actuators that convert external stimuli such as thermal, light, electrical, or chemical energy to mechanical energy depends on the development of new materials. Reversible mechanical actuators based on carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and hydrogel polymers have suggested applications in robotics, sensors, mechanical instruments, microscopy tips, switches, and memory chips. Recently, electromechanical resonators composed of singleand multilayer graphene sheets were reported. We present here a novel macroscopic graphene-based actuator that shows actuation that depends on variation of humidity and/or temperature. The actuator is a free standing ‘‘paper-like’’ material made by sequential filtration of CNT, and then graphene oxide, aqueous colloidal suspensions. ‘‘Paper-like’’ materials composed of stacked graphene oxide platelets produced by simple filtration of an aqueous graphene oxide suspension exhibited good mechanical properties, with a modulus of about 40 GPa and a fracture strength of about 130 MPa. Chemical modification of graphene oxide paper with divalent ions can enhance its mechanical properties. Based on these results that show excellent mechanical properties of individual graphene sheets and of paper-like materials composed of them, we have tried to make mechanical actuators by using graphene oxide platelets. Graphite oxide (GO) is generated by oxidation of graphite and contains a wide range of oxygen functional groups, such as hydroxyl and epoxy groups on the basal plane and carboxylic acid groups at the edges, which make the GO hydrophilic. The oxygen functional groups in the GO, which contains a layered structure of graphene oxide platelets, allow dynamic intercalation of water molecules into the gallery between the layers. The interlayer distance between the graphite oxides reversibly varies from 6 to 12 Å depending on the relative humidity, with increased interlayer distance as the relative humidity increases. Graphene oxide paper contains a layered structure similar to, but not identical to, GO (the coherence length in the paperlike material is 6–7 platelets,