Carbon Nanotube Hybrid Yarn with Mechanically Strong Healable Silicone Elastomers for Artificial Muscle

Electrothermally driven artificial muscles attract significant attention owing to their fast response and large tensile and torsional actuations. However, inevitable damage poses a serious challenge to the durability and antiinterference ability of artificial muscles. In this study, a multiple dynamic bond-based supramolecular silicone elastomer is designed, which exhibits excellent self-healing properties between different types and mechanical properties, such as optimal antipuncture, notch-insensitive, toughness stretchability (1504%), and self-recovery properties. Moreover, a self-healable hybrid yarn artificial muscle (HYAM) is fabricated using a self-healing silicone elastomer as a guest material, which improves the environmental adaptability. The presented HYAMs generate a maximum tensile stroke of 9.7% and a work capacity of 0.49 J/g—12.7 times that of the natural muscle. This study provides a feasible strategy for improving the durability of self-healing artificial muscles and extending their lifetime.