Actuators based on Carbon Nanotube, Graphene and Beyond Graphene Materials

Dear Colleagues,

Richard Feynman, in his famous talk at the APS in Caltech in 1959, discussed the possibilities of building small machines that could be swallowed and used as a mechanical surgeon to remove a faulty heart valve or assist an inadequately performing organ. It is not hard to imagine that the backbone of such mechanical surgeons would one day consist of micro- and nano-actuator technologies that can convert heat/light/charge/chemicals within the body into mechanical work. Feynman’s wild ideas eventually gave way to several innovative technologies namely scanning probe microscopies, micro-electro-mechanical systems and nanotechnology. Nanomaterials such as 1D carbon nanotubes and 2D graphene are excellent actuators owing to their high strength and elastic modulus due to the strong sp² carbon bonds that make up their structure. Since the pioneering work by R.H. Baughman on carbon nanotube actuators in 1999 in Science, this field has seen a tremendous growth with more than thousand publications on various types of nanotube/graphene-based actuators. Some interesting innovations in these areas include the case of the smallest man made nanomotor based on a single nanotube rotating a metallic paddle by Zettl in 2003. Arrays of small nanomotors with molecular mechanisms could eventually be the building blocks of a mechanical factory that could be useful in detecting atoms and molecules, deflecting/filtering electromagnetic radiation, and splicing proteins/damaged cells with a rotating knife patterned onto the paddle inside an artery/vein, not far from the wild dream that Feynman imagined. Recent advances in 2-D nanomaterials such as molybdenum sulphide has shown the coupling between piezoelectric behaviour and semiconducting properties (Piezotronics) depending on the number of layers and is sure to impact the field of energy conversion and actuation in intriguing ways. Therefore this Special Issue targets high quality publications spanning the following topics:

• 1D and 2D actuators based on carbon nanotubes, graphene and other 2-D materials and their composites including soft actuators.
• Mechanisms, such as electro-mechanical, pneumatic, piezoelectric, photo-mechanical, photo-thermal, shape memory, and others incorporating nanomaterials and their composites.
• Actuator devices, processing technologies and underlying principles governing the working of such devices at all length scales
• Theoretical modeling.
• Scalable manufacturing of 1D and 2D nanomaterials for actuation and energy conversion technologies
• Actuation, Robotics and other energy conversion applications

Dr. Balaji Panchapakesan
Guest Editor

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