Magnetically Actuated Transport Pipeline with Self-Perception

Soft transportation devices with high flexibility, good stability, and quick controllability have attracted increasing attention. However, a smart soft transportation device with tactile perception and a non-contact actuating mode remains a challenge. This work reports a magnetic soft pipeline (MSP) composed of sensor film, a magnetorheological elastomer (MRE) cavity pipeline, and heater film, which can not only respond well to tactile compression stimuli but also be transported by magnetic actuation. Notably, the sensor film was integrated on the upper surface of an MRE pipeline, and the relative resistance change (∆R/R₀) of the MSP was maintained at 55.8% under 2.2 mm compression displacement during 4000 loading cycles. Moreover, the heater film was integrated on the lower surface of the MRE pipeline, which endows the MSP with an electrothermal heating characteristic. The temperature of the MSP can be increased from 26.7 °C to 38.1 °C within 1 min under 0.6 V. Furthermore, the MSP was attracted and deformed under the magnetic field, and the ∆R/R₀ of the MSP reached 69.1% under application of a 165 mT magnetic field density. Benefiting from the excellent perception and magnetic deformation performances, the magnetic actuate transportation of the MSP with self-sensing was successfully achieved. This multi-functional soft pipeline integrated with in situ self-sensing, electrothermal heating, and non-contact magnetic actuating transportation performance possess high potential in smart flexible electronic devices.