In the film Pacific Rim, robots that have swift move- ments like that of humans appear. This is possible due to artificial human muscles created through actuators. An actuator is a mechanism that puts something into automatic action.
Professor Moon Jeong Park (CHEM) published her research, “Fast low-voltage electroactive actuators using nanostructured polymer electrolytes,” in Nature Com- munications. It has been a challenge to discover viable actuators of large electromechanical deformation, fast switching response, low operating voltage, and durable operation. Prof. Park and her team have found an electroactive actuator “composed of self-assembled sulphonated block copolymer and ionic liquids” that can have rapid responses, less than one second at sub-1-V conditions over 13,500 cycles in the air. The “evolution of the unique hexagonal structure of the polymer layer with domain size gradients beneath the cathode during actuation” has been the key success for this discovery.