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Near‐Infrared Photodriven Self‐Sustained Oscillation of Liquid‐Crystalline Network Film with Predesignated Polydopamine Coating
Author(s) -
Lan Ruochen,
Sun Jian,
Shen Chen,
Huang Rui,
Zhang Zhongping,
Zhang Lanying,
Wang Ling,
Yang Huai
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
advanced materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 10.707
H-Index - 527
eISSN - 1521-4095
pISSN - 0935-9648
DOI - 10.1002/adma.201906319
Subject(s) - materials science , coating , optoelectronics , oscillation (cell signaling) , infrared , polymer , fabrication , soft robotics , nanotechnology , optics , composite material , computer science , robot , medicine , genetics , physics , alternative medicine , pathology , artificial intelligence , biology
Movement is one of the vital features of living systems, and remote control of bioinspired soft robotic systems in a precise, contactless and harmless way is extremely desirable but challenging. A near‐infrared (NIR) photodriven polymeric oscillator is designed and fabricated by selectively coating a mussel‐inspired polydopamine (PDA) polymer layer on the surface of splay‐aligned liquid crystalline network (LCN) film. The oscillating motions of the LCN oscillators can be facilely manipulated by tuning light intensity and film thickness. More importantly, the programmability of the PDA coating enables the oscillating behaviors of LCN film to be predesignated and finely adjusted by coating the film with PDA locally and repeatedly. The self‐oscillating movement mechanism can be attributed to the temperature oscillation at the PDA‐coated LCN film since it is alternatively exposed and sheltered to the NIR‐light irradiations. Owing to over 50% NIR irradiation in solar spectrum, PDA‐coated film is found to oscillate upon exposure of focused sunlight, presenting great potential in fabrication of solar power generation devices. This provides a versatile strategy to fabricate NIR‐light‐actuated polymeric oscillators, providing inspirations in the development of biological soft robots and advanced biomimetic devices.