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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2021 Mar 29.
Published in final edited form as: Nat Mater. 2020 Jul 27;19(11):1230–1235. doi: 10.1038/s41563-020-0736-2

Fig. 4. Self-healing, protein-based soft actuator.

Fig. 4

a,b, Schematic and images of a soft pneumatic actuator fabricated from TRn11 protein disc membranes. c, A single-chamber actuator achieves 400% strains and 5 N force output, with no distinguishable difference in performance between pristine and puncture-healed actuators. Error bars, standard deviation (n = 5). (Source Data Fig. 4c) d, Soft gripper fabricated from two opposed protein actuators, capable of gripping soft, delicate objects (for example, a cherry tomato). e, Protein-based artificial muscle, with performance exceeding that of biological muscle. f, On-demand degradation of protein actuators by induced pH stimulus, which causes them to vanish at the end of their functional life (photodye added for enhanced visualization).