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A Multifunctional Dye‐doped Liquid Crystal Polymer Actuator: Light‐Guided Transportation, Turning in Locomotion, and Autonomous Motion
Author(s) -
Ge Feijie,
Yang Rong,
Tong Xia,
Camerel Franck,
Zhao Yue
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
angewandte chemie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1521-3757
pISSN - 0044-8249
DOI - 10.1002/ange.201807495
Subject(s) - materials science , bending , climb , actuator , laser , substrate (aquarium) , optics , liquid crystal , inclined plane , optoelectronics , nanotechnology , composite material , computer science , mechanical engineering , physics , oceanography , artificial intelligence , thermodynamics , geology , engineering
A strip of a liquid crystal elastomer doped with a near‐infrared dye with one side crosslinked monodomain and the other crosslinked polydomain along the thickness behaves like a multifunctional photoactuator without the need for a support. A flat strip with two ends fixed on substrate surface forms a moving bump under laser scanning, which can be used as light‐fueled conveyor to transport an object. Cutting off and laser scanning the bump with two free ends makes a soft and flexible millimeter‐scale crawler that can not only move straight and climb an inclined surface, but also undergo light‐guided turning to right or left as a result of combined out‐of‐plane and in‐plane actuation. Based on the self‐shadowing mechanism, with one end of the strip fixed on substrate surface, it can execute a variety of autonomous arm‐like movements under constant laser illumination, such as bending–unbending and twisting, depending on the laser incident angles with respect to the strip actuator.