Abstract
Rapid progress in material science and nanotechnology has led to the development of the shape memory alloys (SMA) and the shape memory polymers (SMP) based functional multilayered structures that, due to their capability to achieve the properties not feasible by most natural materials, have attracted a significant attention from the scientific community. These shape memory materials can sustain large deformations, which can be recovered once the appropriate value of an external stimulus is applied. Moreover, the SMAs and SMPs can be reprogrammed to meet several desired functional properties. As a result, SMAs and SMPs multilayered structures benefit from the unprecedented physical and material properties such as the shape memory effect, superelasticity, large displacement actuation, changeable mechanical properties, and the high energy density. They hold promises in the design of advanced functional micro- and nano-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS/NEMS). In this review, we discuss the recent understanding and progress in the fields of the SMAs and SMPs. Particular attention will be given to the existing challenges, critical issues, limitations, and achievements in the preparation and characterization of the SMPs and NiTi-based SMAs thin films, and their heterostructures for MEMS/NEMS applications including both experimental and computational approaches. Examples of the recent MEMS/NEMS devices utilizing the unique properties of SMAs and SMPs such as micropumps, microsensors or tunable metamaterial resonators are highlighted. In addition, we also introduce the prospective future research directions in the fields of SMAs and SMPs for the nanotechnology applications.
Highlights
Recent advances in material science and nanotechnology have enabled to develop the micro and nanoscale structures for a variety of applications
The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of recent understanding of the growing field of the shape memory materials for MEMS/NEMS applications
We have presented the recent progress in the field of shape memory alloys (SMA) and shape memory polymers (SMP) for nanotechnology applications including a brief background of their underlying mechanisms
Summary
Recent advances in material science and nanotechnology have enabled to develop the micro and nanoscale structures for a variety of applications. Each functional material has one or more particular modifiable properties (e.g., shape, volume, electric conductivity, the Young‘s modulus or Poison‘s ratio) that can be altered by the different external stimuli like changes in light and temperature, or by applying external magnetic, mechanical or electrical fields. These functional properties make them highly attractive in the design of advanced micro-/nano-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS/NEMS) [22,23,24]. The piezoelectric materials that are capable of converting the mechanical energy into the electrical energy, have been the most commonly used [25], successful prototypes using other functional materials such as SMAs have been already conceived [26,27]
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