Recyclable and self-repairable fluid-driven liquid crystal elastomer actuator

Q He, Z Wang, Y Wang, Z Song… - ACS applied materials & …, 2020 - ACS Publications
ACS applied materials & interfaces, 2020ACS Publications
Liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) is a newly emerging soft actuating material that has been
extensively explored for building novel soft robots and diverse active devices, thanks to its
large actuation stress and strain, high work density, and versatile actuation modes.
However, there have also been several widely recognized limitations of LCE-based
actuators for practical applications, including slow response and narrow range of operation
temperature. Herein, we develop fluid-driven disulfide LCE actuators through facile laminate …
Liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) is a newly emerging soft actuating material that has been extensively explored for building novel soft robots and diverse active devices, thanks to its large actuation stress and strain, high work density, and versatile actuation modes. However, there have also been several widely recognized limitations of LCE-based actuators for practical applications, including slow response and narrow range of operation temperature. Herein, we develop fluid-driven disulfide LCE actuators through facile laminate manufacturing enabled by a dynamic bond exchange reaction. Because of the merits of the active heating/cooling mechanism of the fluidic structure, this newly developed disulfide LCE actuator can generate large cyclic actuation at a frequency around 1 Hz and can operate in a wide range of temperatures. The unique combination of the fluidic structure design and the dynamic covalent bonds in the elastomer has also enabled the full recyclability and self-repairability of the actuator. Using the newly developed actuator as building block, we further constructed soft robotic systems that can realize manipulating and programmable movement. The design principle demonstrated in the current work opens a promising avenue for exploring more novel applications of LCE-based soft actuators.
ACS Publications