Nanotechnology Breakthrough Produces Artificial Muscles

Filed in archive Nanomedicine , Other Biotechnology News on March 21, 2006

Nanotechnologists at the University of Texas in Dallas have created an alcohol- and hydrogen-powered artificial muscles that are 100 times stronger than natural muscles, able to do 100 times greater work per cycle and produce, at reduced strengths, larger contractions than natural muscles. These artificial muscles could enable fuel-powered artificial limbs, "smart skins" and morphing structures for air and marine vehicles, Autonomous robots having very long mission capabilities and smart sensors that detect and self-actuate to change the environment.

To solve the limitations of humans and the most athletically capable robots available these days, the team of scientists from UTD's Nanotech Institute developed two different types of artificial muscles that, like natural muscles, convert the chemical energy of an energetic fuel to mechanical energy.

This breakthrough has been reported in the March 17 issue of the prestigious journal Science.

The development of these revolutionary muscles was motivated by a visit of Dr. John Main from the Defense Advanced Projects Agency (DARPA) to Dr. Ray H. Baughman, Robert A. Welch Professor of Chemistry and director of the UTD NanoTech Institute. During the visit, Main described his visions of a future that could include such advancements as artificial muscles for autonomous humanoid robots that protect people from danger, artificial limbs that act like natural limbs and exoskeletons that provide super-human strength to firefighters, astronauts and soldiers - all of which are able to perform lengthy missions by using shots of alcohol as a highly energetic fuel.

The new muscles simultaneously function as fuel cells and muscles, according to Baughman, corresponding author of the Science article. A catalyst-containing carbon nanotube electrode is used in one described muscle type as a fuel cell electrode to convert chemical energy to electrical energy, as a supercapacitor electrode to store this electrical energy and as a muscle electrode to transform this electrical energy to mechanical energy. Fuel-powered charge injection in a carbon nanotube electrode produces the dimensional changes needed for actuation due to a combination of quantum mechanical and electrostatic effects present on the nanoscale, Baughman said.

Read more at UTD news.

Photo Credit: UTD