Reprogrammable 3D Liquid‐Crystalline Actuators with Precisely Controllable Stepwise Actuation
Liquid‐crystalline elastomers (LCEs) are considered ideal soft actuator materials for a wide range of applications, especially the thriving soft robotics. However, 3D LCE actuators capable of precisely controllable stepwise actuation, which can enhance functionality and versatility of LCE robots for...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley
2021-08-01
|
| Series: | Advanced Intelligent Systems |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/aisy.202000249 |
| _version_ | 1819068745976381440 |
|---|---|
| author | Qiaomei Chen Weiwei Li Yen Wei Yan Ji |
| author_facet | Qiaomei Chen Weiwei Li Yen Wei Yan Ji |
| author_sort | Qiaomei Chen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Liquid‐crystalline elastomers (LCEs) are considered ideal soft actuator materials for a wide range of applications, especially the thriving soft robotics. However, 3D LCE actuators capable of precisely controllable stepwise actuation, which can enhance functionality and versatility of LCE robots for multifarious complicated applications, are still in urgent need for the reported LCE actuators mainly exploit the one‐step actuation upon the liquid‐crystallin (LC)‐isotropic phase transition temperature (Ti). Herein, a catalyst‐free LC‐vitrimer actuator with supercritical behavior is designed, which can perform precisely controllable stepwise actuation with extraordinary shape stability over a broad temperature range of about 70 °C. Moreover, supercritical behavior enables the actuator to be used in nematic phase, imparting the actuator with some extra advantages, such as higher mechanical strength and actuation stability, over the one used above Ti. Furthermore, the LCE can be reprogrammable into arbitrary 3D actuators, which can further be integrated into single‐material actuators with complex stepwise actuation, offering a generalized strategy of LCE actuators for sophisticated practical soft robots. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T16:39:02Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a1f243ebfdb14705a6f0e96da2d8712b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2640-4567 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T16:39:02Z |
| publishDate | 2021-08-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Advanced Intelligent Systems |
| spelling | doaj.art-a1f243ebfdb14705a6f0e96da2d8712b2022-12-21T18:57:08ZengWileyAdvanced Intelligent Systems2640-45672021-08-0138n/an/a10.1002/aisy.202000249Reprogrammable 3D Liquid‐Crystalline Actuators with Precisely Controllable Stepwise ActuationQiaomei Chen0Weiwei Li1Yen Wei2Yan Ji3MOE Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Phosphorus Chemistry & Chemical Biology Department of Chemistry Tsinghua University Beijing 100084 ChinaBeijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering & State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites Beijing University of Chemical Technology Beijing 100029 ChinaMOE Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Phosphorus Chemistry & Chemical Biology Department of Chemistry Tsinghua University Beijing 100084 ChinaMOE Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Phosphorus Chemistry & Chemical Biology Department of Chemistry Tsinghua University Beijing 100084 ChinaLiquid‐crystalline elastomers (LCEs) are considered ideal soft actuator materials for a wide range of applications, especially the thriving soft robotics. However, 3D LCE actuators capable of precisely controllable stepwise actuation, which can enhance functionality and versatility of LCE robots for multifarious complicated applications, are still in urgent need for the reported LCE actuators mainly exploit the one‐step actuation upon the liquid‐crystallin (LC)‐isotropic phase transition temperature (Ti). Herein, a catalyst‐free LC‐vitrimer actuator with supercritical behavior is designed, which can perform precisely controllable stepwise actuation with extraordinary shape stability over a broad temperature range of about 70 °C. Moreover, supercritical behavior enables the actuator to be used in nematic phase, imparting the actuator with some extra advantages, such as higher mechanical strength and actuation stability, over the one used above Ti. Furthermore, the LCE can be reprogrammable into arbitrary 3D actuators, which can further be integrated into single‐material actuators with complex stepwise actuation, offering a generalized strategy of LCE actuators for sophisticated practical soft robots.https://doi.org/10.1002/aisy.202000249catalyst-free LC-vitrimerscomplex 3D structuresprecisely controllable stepwise actuationssoft actuatorssupercritical behaviors |
| spellingShingle | Qiaomei Chen Weiwei Li Yen Wei Yan Ji Reprogrammable 3D Liquid‐Crystalline Actuators with Precisely Controllable Stepwise Actuation Advanced Intelligent Systems catalyst-free LC-vitrimers complex 3D structures precisely controllable stepwise actuations soft actuators supercritical behaviors |
| title | Reprogrammable 3D Liquid‐Crystalline Actuators with Precisely Controllable Stepwise Actuation |
| title_full | Reprogrammable 3D Liquid‐Crystalline Actuators with Precisely Controllable Stepwise Actuation |
| title_fullStr | Reprogrammable 3D Liquid‐Crystalline Actuators with Precisely Controllable Stepwise Actuation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Reprogrammable 3D Liquid‐Crystalline Actuators with Precisely Controllable Stepwise Actuation |
| title_short | Reprogrammable 3D Liquid‐Crystalline Actuators with Precisely Controllable Stepwise Actuation |
| title_sort | reprogrammable 3d liquid crystalline actuators with precisely controllable stepwise actuation |
| topic | catalyst-free LC-vitrimers complex 3D structures precisely controllable stepwise actuations soft actuators supercritical behaviors |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/aisy.202000249 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT qiaomeichen reprogrammable3dliquidcrystallineactuatorswithpreciselycontrollablestepwiseactuation AT weiweili reprogrammable3dliquidcrystallineactuatorswithpreciselycontrollablestepwiseactuation AT yenwei reprogrammable3dliquidcrystallineactuatorswithpreciselycontrollablestepwiseactuation AT yanji reprogrammable3dliquidcrystallineactuatorswithpreciselycontrollablestepwiseactuation |