阅读说明：本技术 一种可巡游可收集水面塑料污染物的智能水凝胶机器人及其制备方法 (Intelligent hydrogel robot capable of patrolling and collecting water surface plastic pollutants and preparation method thereof ) 是由 梅永丰 朱红 于 2020-11-25 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明属于机器人技术领域,具体涉及一种可巡游可收集水面塑料污染物的智能水凝胶机器人及其制备方法。本发明提供的智能水凝胶机器人是由甲基丙烯酸羟乙酯和丙烯酸通过光引发聚合而成的新型智能水凝胶全部构成,该智能水凝胶机器人释放到含水液体的表面,由于该智能水凝胶可以自主在水面产生表面张力梯度差,使其在没有外界能量供应的条件下,实现在水面的长时间自主巡游。并且该游动机器人可以通过亲疏水相互作用实现对水面塑料污染物的收集。(The invention belongs to the technical field of robots, and particularly relates to an intelligent hydrogel robot capable of patrolling and collecting water surface plastic pollutants and a preparation method thereof. The intelligent hydrogel robot provided by the invention is composed of novel intelligent hydrogel which is formed by polymerizing hydroxyethyl methacrylate and acrylic acid through photo initiation, the intelligent hydrogel robot releases to the surface of water-containing liquid, and the intelligent hydrogel can autonomously generate surface tension gradient difference on the water surface, so that the intelligent hydrogel robot can realize long-time autonomous tour on the water surface under the condition of no external energy supply. And the swimming robot can collect plastic pollutants on the water surface through hydrophilic-hydrophobic interaction.)

1. The intelligent hydrogel robot capable of patrolling and collecting plastic pollutants on the water surface is characterized by being a robot which is completely composed of hydrogel formed by polymerization of hydroxyethyl methacrylate and acrylic acid.

2. The method for preparing the intelligent touring hydrogel robot capable of collecting the water surface plastics, which is disclosed by claim 1, is characterized by comprising the following steps of:

hydroxyethyl methacrylate, acrylic acid, a cross-linking agent and a photoinitiator are mixed into a precursor solution and irradiated to obtain the intelligent hydrogel robot capable of patrolling and collecting plastic pollutants on the water surface.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the cross-linking agent is preferably ethylene glycol dimethacrylate.

4. A method according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the photoinitiator is preferably 2-hydroxy-2-methyl propiophenone.

5. The method according to claim 2, 3 or 4, wherein the volume ratio of the hydroxyethyl methacrylate, acrylic acid, the crosslinking agent and the photoinitiator is set to 1 based on the hydroxyethyl methacrylate, and the volume ratio of acrylic acid to the crosslinking agent is in the range of 0.2 to 1; the volume ratio range of the cross-linking agent ethylene glycol dimethacrylate to the cross-linking agent ethylene glycol dimethacrylate is 0.02-1; the volume ratio of the photoinitiator 2-hydroxy-2-methyl propiophenone to the photoinitiator is 0.2-0.6.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the irradiation is performed under an ultraviolet lamp at a wavelength of 365 nm; the irradiation time is 5 seconds-60 minutes.

7. The intelligent hydrogel robot capable of tour and collecting plastic pollutants on the water surface obtained by the preparation method of claim 2 is characterized in that the upper surface area and the lower surface area of the swimming robot are less than 75 square centimeters, the thickness of the swimming robot is less than 2 centimeters, and the specific size is determined by the size of a mold.

8. The intelligent swimming hydrogel robot capable of tour and collecting plastic pollutants on the water surface, which is obtained by the preparation method according to claim 2, is characterized in that the swimming robot can autonomously swim and collect the plastic pollutants at an interface between an aqueous liquid and air with a surface tension coefficient of 62-77 mN/m, and no external energy is required to be additionally provided.

Technical Field

The invention belongs to the technical field of robots, and particularly relates to an intelligent hydrogel robot capable of patrolling and collecting water surface plastic pollutants and a preparation method thereof.

Background

Plastic pollutants floating on the water surface often exist on the riverway, which causes water quality deterioration and pollutes the water resource environment. However, most of the traditional treatment methods are manual fishing, the efficiency of the method is low, the fishing cost is high, and certain danger exists for fishing personnel.

The hydrogel is a gel having a three-dimensional network structure that swells by absorbing a large amount of water in water. Due to its superior stimulus responsiveness and deformability, hydrogels can be used as actuators, one of the common materials in existing construction of soft body robots. In view of the above, the invention provides a novel intelligent hydrogel robot which can autonomously tour on a water surface and can clean plastic pollutants on the water surface based on hydrophilic-hydrophobic interaction.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to provide an intelligent hydrogel robot capable of patrolling and collecting water surface plastic pollutants and a preparation method thereof.

The invention provides an intelligent hydrogel robot capable of patrolling and collecting plastic pollutants on a water surface, which is a robot consisting of novel intelligent hydrogel formed by polymerizing hydroxyethyl methacrylate and acrylic acid.

The invention also provides a preparation method of the intelligent hydrogel robot, which comprises the following specific steps:

hydroxyethyl methacrylate, acrylic acid, a cross-linking agent and a photoinitiator are mixed into a precursor solution and irradiated to obtain the intelligent hydrogel robot capable of patrolling and collecting plastic pollutants on the water surface.

In the present invention, the crosslinking agent is preferably ethylene glycol dimethacrylate.

In the present invention, the photoinitiator is preferably 2-hydroxy-2-methyl propiophenone.

In the invention, the volume ratio of the hydroxyethyl methacrylate, the acrylic acid, the cross-linking agent and the photoinitiator is set to 1 by taking the hydroxyethyl methacrylate as a base number, and the volume ratio of the acrylic acid to the acrylic acid is 0.2-1; the volume ratio range of the cross-linking agent ethylene glycol dimethacrylate to the cross-linking agent ethylene glycol dimethacrylate is 0.02-1; the volume ratio of the photoinitiator 2-hydroxy-2-methyl propiophenone to the photoinitiator is 0.2-0.6.

In the invention, the irradiation is carried out under an ultraviolet lamp, the wavelength of the ultraviolet light is 365 nanometers, and the irradiation time is preferably 5 seconds to 60 minutes.

In the invention, the upper surface area and the lower surface area of the swimming robot for collecting the plastic pollutants are less than 75 square centimeters, the thickness of the swimming robot is less than 2 centimeters, and the specific size is determined by the size of a mould.

In the invention, the swimming robot for collecting the plastic pollutants can independently swim and collect the plastic pollutants at the interface of the water-containing liquid with the surface tension coefficient of 62-77 mN/m and the air, and no external extra energy supply is needed.

The intelligent hydrogel robot capable of tour and collecting plastic pollutants on the water surface has the following specific working principle that the intelligent hydrogel can generate surface tension gradient difference on the surface of the water-containing liquid due to the water absorption process, so that the intelligent hydrogel can independently swim. In addition, in the movement process of the intelligent hydrogel robot, the meniscus surface shows a hydrophobic meniscus, and most of plastic pollutants on the water surface are hydrophobic menisci, so that the plastic pollutants on the water surface can be collected through hydrophilic-hydrophobic interaction.

Has the advantages that: the intelligent hydrogel robot capable of patrolling and collecting plastic pollutants on the water surface provided by the invention can realize the automatic patrolling on the surface of the water-containing liquid without additionally providing energy and collect the plastic pollutants. Compared with the traditional manual fishing, the cleaning efficiency and safety are greatly improved. The preparation method provided by the invention is very simple and can be applied to industrial production, so that the preparation method has practical application significance.

The invention has the originality that the intelligent hydrogel robot capable of automatically tour on the surface of the water-containing liquid is prepared by utilizing the novel intelligent hydrogel with the self-built surface tension gradient, and the collection of the plastic pollutants on the water surface is realized through the interaction of hydrophilic and hydrophobic phases.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a picture and a motion trail diagram of a swimming robot moving autonomously on a water surface.

Fig. 2 is a water surface front and back comparison diagram of a swimming robot moving autonomously on the water surface for collecting plastic pollutants.

Reference numbers in the figures: 1. 2 is a swimming robot, and 3 is collected plastic pollutants.

Detailed Description

The invention provides an intelligent hydrogel robot capable of patrolling and collecting plastic pollutants on a water surface, which is a robot consisting of hydrogel formed by polymerizing hydroxyethyl methacrylate and acrylic acid.

The invention provides a preparation method of the intelligent hydrogel robot in the technical scheme, which comprises the following steps:

hydroxyethyl methacrylate, acrylic acid, a cross-linking agent and a photoinitiator are mixed into a precursor solution and irradiated to obtain the intelligent hydrogel robot capable of patrolling and collecting plastic pollutants on the water surface.

In the present invention, unless otherwise specified, all the starting materials required for the preparation are commercially available products well known to those skilled in the art.

Hydroxyethyl methacrylate, acrylic acid, a cross-linking agent and a photoinitiator are mixed into a precursor solution. In the invention, the cross-linking agent is preferably ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, and the photoinitiator is preferably 2-hydroxy-2-methyl propiophenone. In the invention, the volume ratio of the hydroxyethyl methacrylate, the acrylic acid, the cross-linking agent and the photoinitiator is set to 1 by taking the hydroxyethyl methacrylate as a base number, and the volume ratio of the acrylic acid to the acrylic acid is 0.2-1; the volume ratio range of the cross-linking agent ethylene glycol dimethacrylate to the cross-linking agent ethylene glycol dimethacrylate is 0.02-1; the volume ratio of the photoinitiator 2-hydroxy-2-methyl propiophenone to the photoinitiator is 0.2-0.6. In the invention, the mixing process preferably comprises the steps of firstly mixing hydroxyethyl methacrylate and acrylic acid, then sequentially adding a cross-linking agent and a photoinitiator into the obtained mixed solution, and then shading the obtained precursor solution and introducing high-purity nitrogen for 5 minutes until all components are fully and uniformly mixed and dissolved oxygen is removed; the nitrogen gas is introduced at a speed which is not specially limited, and the nitrogen gas are fully and uniformly mixed and dissolved oxygen is removed. The invention introduces nitrogen under the shading condition to avoid the failure of the photoinitiator under the sunlight.

After the mixing is completed, the obtained precursor solution is irradiated. According to the invention, the obtained precursor solution is preferably placed in a Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) mould for irradiation, the irradiation is preferably carried out under an ultraviolet lamp, and the wavelength of the ultraviolet light is preferably 365 nm; the irradiation time is preferably 5 seconds to 60 minutes.

In the invention, the material of the mold is preferably polydimethylsiloxane, and the mold is preferably manufactured by adopting a laser cutting technology and a PDMS (polydimethylsiloxane) molding technology. In the invention, the preparation method of the mould comprises the following steps: designing and modeling the shape of the die by using AutoCAD software, and storing a modeling file in a dwg format; importing the dwg format modeling file into a laser cutting machine, and manufacturing an acrylic male die by taking an acrylic plate as a raw material; and manufacturing a mould on the male mould by adopting a PDMS (polydimethylsiloxane) molding process. In the invention, the PDMS mold is used for realizing ultraviolet curing forming of the solution. The invention has no special limitation on the specific processes of modeling, laser cutting of acrylic and PDMS molding, and can select conventional methods well known by the technicians in the field.

Fig. 1 is a picture of a real object and a motion trail diagram of the intelligent hydrogel robot capable of touring and collecting plastic pollutants on a water surface. In the invention, the upper surface area and the lower surface area of the swimming robot for collecting the plastic pollutants are less than 75 square centimeters, and the thickness of the swimming robot is less than 2 centimeters. In the invention, the swimming robot for collecting the plastic pollutants can perform autonomous swimming on the interface between the water-containing liquid with the surface tension coefficient of 62-77 mN/m and the air. After the intelligent hydrogel robot is released on the surface of the aqueous liquid, a surface tension gradient can be established on the surface of the aqueous liquid due to self water absorption and the affinity-hydrophobicity exchange of the contained groups, and the intelligent hydrogel can autonomously cruise on the surface of the aqueous liquid without external energy supply due to the Marangoni effect. The locus diagram shows the curve motion locus of the intelligent hydrogel on the water surface, wherein 1 is a swimming robot.

Figure 2 shows the results of plastic contaminant collection on a water surface with a 0.785 square centimeter intelligent hydrogel swimming robot on a 900 square centimeter water surface. Wherein, 2 is a swimming robot, and 3 is plastic pollutants collected on the surface of the swimming robot.

The technical solution of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the embodiments of the present invention. It is to be understood that the described embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention, and not restrictive of the full scope of the invention. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

Example 1

Preparing an intelligent hydrogel precursor solution: mixing hydroxyethyl methacrylate and acrylic acid in a volume ratio of 2:1, and then adding a crosslinking agent ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, wherein the volume ratio of the ethylene glycol dimethacrylate to the hydroxyethyl methacrylate is 1: 10; then adding a photoinitiator 2-hydroxy-2-methyl propiophenone, wherein the volume ratio of the photoinitiator to hydroxyethyl methacrylate is 1:2, uniformly mixing the above liquids, shading, and introducing high-purity nitrogen for 5 minutes to obtain a prepared precursor liquid.

Manufacturing a mould: 3D modeling is carried out on the die by using AutoCAD software, and a modeling file is stored in a dwg format; importing the modeling file in the dwg format into a laser cutting machine, and cutting an acrylic plate by laser to manufacture an acrylic male die, wherein the protrusion is cylindrical, the diameter of the protrusion is 1 cm, and the height of the protrusion is 3 mm; and manufacturing a PDMS mold on the acrylic male mold by using a PDMS molding process.

Manufacturing an intelligent hydrogel robot: and injecting the prepared precursor liquid into a PDMS mold, irradiating ultraviolet light above the PDMS mold, and irradiating for 1 minute by using an ultraviolet lamp with the wavelength of 365 nm to obtain the cured intelligent hydrogel robot. The intelligent hydrogel robot is cylindrical, the diameter of the intelligent hydrogel robot is 1 cm, and the thickness of the intelligent hydrogel robot is 3 mm. The intelligent hydrogel robot is released to the surface of water, and can move autonomously.

Intelligent hydrogel robot work to collect plastic contaminants: the intelligent hydrogel robot which autonomously moves on the water surface is released to a water area where plastic pollutants float on the water surface, and the intelligent hydrogel robot can autonomously collect the plastic pollutants on the water surface without any operation.

Example 2

Following the protocol described in example 1, the only difference is: the volume ratio of hydroxyethyl methacrylate to acrylic acid is 1:1, the volume ratio of the rest liquid is kept unchanged, and the volume ratio of the crosslinking agent ethylene glycol dimethacrylate to the hydroxyethyl methacrylate is still 1: 10; the volume ratio of the photoinitiator 2-hydroxy-2-methyl propiophenone to the hydroxyethyl methacrylate is still 1: 2.

According to the scheme of the embodiment 1, the swimming robot of the embodiment 2 which autonomously moves on the water surface is verified, and the result shows that the intelligent hydrogel robot of the embodiment 2 can also autonomously move after being released to the water surface, and can also autonomously move and collect plastic pollutants when being released to the water surface with the plastic pollutants.

According to the embodiment, the intelligent hydrogel robot provided by the invention can be used for collecting plastic pollutants on a water surface.

The foregoing is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and it should be noted that, for those skilled in the art, various modifications and decorations can be made without departing from the principle of the present invention, and these modifications and decorations should also be regarded as the protection scope of the present invention.