Biomimetic high performance artificial muscle built on sacrificial coordination network and mechanical training process

Artificial muscle materials promise significant applications in actuators, robotics and medical apparatus, yet reproducing the full characteristics of skeletal muscle in synthetic systems remains challenging. Inspired by dynamic sacrificial bonds in biomaterials and the self-strengthening of skeletal muscles by exercise, the authors prepare a high-performance artificial muscle by introducing sacrificial Zn2+-based coordination bonds into a polyolefin elastomer and applying a repetitive mechanical training process to rearrange these bonds. Biomass lignin serves as a green reinforcer and ligand to construct interfacial coordination bonds. The resulting material exhibits high actuation strain (>40%), high actuation stress (1.5 MPa) enabling lifting >10,000× its own weight with ~30% strain, pronounced self-strengthening upon training, strain-adaptive stiffening, and programmable actuation under heat and electricity. This work offers a facile strategy for fabricating intelligent materials from readily available raw materials.

Zhikai Tu, Weifeng Liu, Jin Wang, Xueqing Qiu, Jinhao Huang, Jinxing Li, Hongming Lou