Photomechanical and Chemomechanical Actuation Behavior of Graphene–Poly(dimethylsiloxane)/Gold Bilayer Tube for Multimode Soft Grippers and Volatile Organic Compounds Detection Applications

Graphene polymers-based soft actuators driven by infrared (IR) light have attracted wide attention recently. However, the scientific fraternity is striving hard in unraveling the area of actuators that could be triggered by IR light along with chemicals. The fabricating methodology of multiresponsive soft actuators based on graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs)–poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) nanocomposite/gold bilayers, ensuring large, fast, and reversible response, has been illustrated. The actuators display a novel dual-mode operation as photomechanical and chemomechanical actuation. The actuators are realized by depositing a thin film (100 nm) of gold on GNP–PDMS nanocomposite films resulting tubular structure on account of thermal residual stress. The actuation response of this structure upon its exposure to IR light and chemicals was measured in terms of percentage opening and degree of unscroll, respectively. The three-dimensional tubular structure is transformed into a two-dimensional sheet within 8 s under...