Photocontrol of fluid slugs in liquid crystal polymer microactuators.

The manipulation of small amounts of liquids has applications ranging from biomedical devices to liquid transfer. Direct light-driven manipulation of liquids, especially when triggered by light-induced capillary forces, is of particular interest because light can provide contactless spatial and temporal control. However, existing light-driven technologies suffer from an inherent limitation in that liquid motion is strongly resisted by the effect of contact-line pinning. Here we report a strategy to manipulate fluid slugs by photo-induced asymmetric deformation of tubular microactuators, which induces capillary forces for liquid propulsion. Microactuators with various shapes (straight, 'Y'-shaped, serpentine and helical) are fabricated from a mechanically robust linear liquid crystal polymer. These microactuators are able to exert photocontrol of a wide diversity of liquids over a long distance with controllable velocity and direction, and hence to mix multiphase liquids, to combine liquids and even to make liquids run uphill. We anticipate that this photodeformable microactuator will find use in micro-reactors, in laboratory-on-a-chip settings and in micro-optomechanical systems.

Reconfigurable Soft Actuators with Multiple-Stimuli Responses.

Multiple-stimuli responsive soft actuators with tunable initial shapes would have substantial potential in broad technological applications, ranging from advanced sensors, smart robots to biomedical devices. However, existing soft actuators are often limited to single initial shape and are unable to reversibly reconfigure into desirable shapes, which severely restricts the multifunctions that can be integrated into one actuator. Here, a novel reconfigurable supramolecular polymer/polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bilayer actuator exhibiting multiple-stimuli responses is presented. In this bilayer actuator, the supramolecular polymer layer constructed of poly(5-Norbornene-2-carboxylic acid-1,3-cyclooctadiene) (PNCCO) and azopyridine derivative (PyAzoPy) via H-bonds provides multiple-stimuli responses: PyAzoPy offers light response and carboxylic groups in PNCCO endow the actuator with humidity response. Meanwhile thermoplastic PET layer enables the bilayer actuators to be reconfigured into various shapes by thermal stimuli. The rationally designed actuators exhibit versatile capabilities to reversibly reconfigure into a set of initial shapes and carry out multiple functions, such as photo-driven "foldback-clip" and Ω-shaped crawling robots. In addition, bio-inspired plants constructed by reconfiguration of such actuators demonstrate reversible multiple-stimuli responses. It is anticipated that these novel actuators with highly tunable geometries and actuation modes would be useful to develop multifunctional devices capable of performing diverse tasks.

Photoinduced bending behavior of cross-linked azobenzene liquid-crystalline polymer films with a poly(oxyethylene) backbone.

Cross-linked azobenzene liquid-crystalline polymer films with a poly(oxyethylene) backbone are synthesized by photoinitiated cationic copolymerization. Azobenzene moieties in the film surface toward the light source are simultaneously photoaligned during photopolymerization with unpolarized 436 nm light and thus form a splayed alignment in the whole film. The prepared films show reversible photoinduced bending behavior with opposite bending directions when different surfaces of one film face to ultraviolet light irradiation.

Adaptive nanotube networks enabling omnidirectionally deformable electro-driven liquid crystal elastomers towards artificial muscles.

Artificial muscles that can convert electrical energy into mechanical energy promise broad scientific and technological applications. However, existing electro-driven artificial muscles have been plagued with problems that hinder their practical applications: large electro-mechanical attenuation during deformation, high-driving voltages, small actuation strain, and low power density. Here, we design and create novel electro-thermal-driven artificial muscles rationally composited by hierarchically structured carbon nanotube (HS-CNT) networks and liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs), which possess adaptive sandwiched nanotube networks with angulated-scissor-like microstructures, thus effectively addressing above problems. These HS-CNT/LCE artificial muscles demonstrate not only large strain (>40%), but also remarkable conductive robustness (R/R0 < 1.03 under actuation), excellent Joule heating efficiency (≈ 233 °C at 4 V), and high load-bearing capacity (R/R0 < 1.15 at 4000 times its weight loaded). In addition, our artificial muscles exhibit real-muscle-like morphing intelligence that enables preventing mechanical damage in response to excessively heavyweight loading. These high-performance artificial muscles uniquely combining omnidirectional stretchability, robust electrothermal actuation, low driving voltage, and powerful mechanical output would exert significant technological impacts on engineering applications such as soft robotics and wearable flexible electronics.

Bioinspired Liquid Crystalline Spinning Enables Scalable Fabrication of High-Performing Fibrous Artificial Muscles.

Leveraging liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) to realize scalable fabrication of high-performing fibrous artificial muscles is of particular interest because these active soft materials can provide large, reversible, programmable deformations upon environmental stimuli. High-performing fibrous LCEs require the used processing technology to enable shaping LCEs into micro-scale fine fibers as thin as possible while achieving macroscopic LC orientation, which however remains a daunting challenge. Here, a bioinspired spinning technology is reported that allows for continuous, high-speed production (fabrication speed up to 8400 m h-1 ) of thin and aligned LCE microfibers combined with rapid deformation (actuation strain rate up to 810% s-1 ), powerful actuation (actuation stress up to 5.3 MPa), high response frequency (50 Hz), and long cycle life (250 000 cycles without obvious fatigue). Inspired by liquid crystalline spinning of spiders that takes advantage of multiple drawdowns to thin and align their dragline silks, internal drawdown via tapered-wall-induced-shearing and external drawdown via mechanical stretching are employed to shape LCEs into long, thin, aligned microfibers with the desirable actuation performances, which few processing technologies can achieve. This bioinspired processing technology capable of scalable production of high-performing fibrous LCEs would benefit the development of smart fabrics, intelligent wearable devices, humanoid robotics, and other areas.

Bioinspired helical-artificial fibrous muscle structured tubular soft actuators.

Biological tubular actuators show diverse deformations, which allow for sophisticated deformations with well-defined degrees of freedom (DOF). Nonetheless, synthetic active tubular soft actuators largely only exhibit few simple deformations with limited and undesignable DOF. Inspired by 3D fibrous architectures of tubular muscular hydrostats, we devised conceptually new helical-artificial fibrous muscle structured tubular soft actuators (HAFMS-TSAs) with locally tunable molecular orientations, materials, mechanics, and actuation via a modular fabrication platform using a programmable filament winding technique. Unprecedentedly, HAFMS-TSAs can be endowed with 11 different morphing modes through programmable regulation of their 3D helical fibrous architectures. We demonstrate a single "living" artificial plant rationally structured by HAFMS-TSAs exhibiting diverse photoresponsive behaviors that enable adaptive omnidirectional reorientation of its hierarchical 3D structures in the response to environmental irradiation, resembling morphing intelligence of living plants in reacting to changing environments. Our methodology would be significantly beneficial for developing sophisticated soft actuators with designable and tunable DOF.

Photomorphogenesis of Diverse Autonomous Traveling Waves in a Monolithic Soft Artificial Muscle.

Biological organisms (e.g., batoid fish, etc.) possess the remarkable ability to morph their soft, sheet-like tissues into wavy morphologies and self-oscillate to make traveling waves, enabling myriad functionalities in propulsion, locomotion, and transportation. In contrast, current manmade soft robotic systems cannot adaptively make wavy morphologies and concurrently achieve wave propagation because the controllable actuation of desired 3D morphologies in entirely soft materials is a formidable challenge due to their continuously deformable bodies that own a large number of actuable degrees of freedom. Here, we report a bioinspired robotic system that not only allows photomorphogenesis of on-demand 3D wavy morphologies but also enables autonomous wave propagation in a monolithic soft artificial muscle (MSAM). This system employs a conceptually different design strategy based on a combination of two principles derived from plant morphogenesis and the undulatory motion of ray fish. The former offers a shaping principle based on differential growth that enables morphing MSAM into target wavy configurations, while the latter inspires a driving principle that induces autonomous propagation of shaped waves by rhythmic motor patterns. This waving system can be used as adaptive "soft engines/motors" that enable directional locomotion, intelligent transportation of cargo, and autonomous propulsion. It even produces programmable, complex artificial peristaltic waves. Our design allows controllable formation of 3D wavy morphologies and autonomous wave behaviors in the soft robotic system that would be useful for broad applications in adaptive, self-regulated mechanical systems for advanced robotics, soft machines, and energy harvest.

Phototunable self-oscillating system driven by a self-winding fiber actuator.

Self-oscillating systems that enable autonomous, continuous motions driven by an unchanging, constant stimulus would have significant applications in intelligent machines, advanced robotics, and biomedical devices. Despite efforts to gain self-oscillations have been made through artificial systems using responsive soft materials of gels or liquid crystal polymers, these systems are plagued with problems that restrict their practical applicability: few available oscillation modes due to limited degrees of freedom, inability to control the evolution between different modes, and failure under loading. Here we create a phototunable self-oscillating system that possesses a broad range of oscillation modes, controllable evolution between diverse modes, and loading capability. This self-oscillating system is driven by a photoactive self-winding fiber actuator designed and prepared through a twistless strategy inspired by the helix formation of plant-tendrils, which endows the system with high degrees of freedom. It enables not only controllable generation of three basic self-oscillations but also production of diverse complex oscillatory motions. Moreover, it can work continuously over 1270000 cycles without obvious fatigue, exhibiting high robustness. We envision that this system with controllable self-oscillations, loading capability, and mechanical robustness will be useful in autonomous, self-sustained machines and devices with the core feature of photo-mechanical transduction.

Optocapillarity-driven assembly and reconfiguration of liquid crystal polymer actuators.

Realizing programmable assembly and reconfiguration of small objects holds promise for technologically-significant applications in such fields as micromechanical systems, biomedical devices, and metamaterials. Although capillary forces have been successfully explored to assemble objects with specific shapes into ordered structures on the liquid surface, reconfiguring these assembled structures on demand remains a challenge. Here we report a strategy, bioinspired by Anurida maritima, to actively reconfigure assembled structures with well-defined selectivity, directionality, robustness, and restorability. This approach, taking advantage of optocapillarity induced by photodeformation of floating liquid crystal polymer actuators, not only achieves programmable and reconfigurable two-dimensional assembly, but also uniquely enables the formation of three-dimensional structures with tunable architectures and topologies across multiple fluid interfaces. This work demonstrates a versatile approach to tailor capillary interaction by optics, as well as a straightforward bottom-up fabrication platform for a wide range of applications.

Photodeformable Azobenzene-Containing Liquid Crystal Polymers and Soft Actuators.

Photodeformable liquid crystal polymers (LCPs) that adapt their shapes in response to light have aroused a dramatic growth of interest in the past decades, since light as a stimulus enables the remote control and diverse deformations of materials. This review focuses on the growing research on photodeformable LCPs, including their basic actuation mechanisms, the various deformation modes, the newly designed molecular structures, and the improvement of processing techniques. Special attention is devoted to the novel molecular structures of LCPs, which allow for easy processing and alignment. The soft actuators with various deformation modes such as bending, twisting, and rolling in response to light are also covered with the emphasis on their photo-induced bionic functions. Potential applications in energy harvesting, self-cleaning surfaces, sensors, and photo-controlled microfluidics are further illustrated. The existing challenges and future directions are discussed at the end of this review.

Miniaturized Swimming Soft Robot with Complex Movement Actuated and Controlled by Remote Light Signals.

Powering and communication with micro robots to enable complex functions is a long-standing challenge as the size of robots continues to shrink. Physical connection of wires or components needed for wireless communication are complex and limited by the size of electronic and energy storage devices, making miniaturization of robots difficult. To explore an alternative solution, we designed and fabricated a micro soft swimming robot with both powering and controlling functions provided by remote light, which does not carry any electronic devices and batteries. In this approach, a polymer film containing azobenzene chromophore which is sensitive to ultra-violet (UV) light works as "motor", and the UV light and visible light work as "power and signal lines". Periodically flashing UV light and white light drives the robot flagellum periodically to swing to eventually push forward the robot in the glass tube filled with liquid. The gripper on robot head can be opened or closed by lights to grab and carry the load. This kind of remotely light-driven approach realizes complex driving and controlling of micro robotic structures, making it possible to design and fabricate even smaller robots. It will have great potential among applications in the micro machine and robot fields.