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Liquid‐Crystalline Soft Actuators with Switchable Thermal Reprogrammability
Author(s) -
Wu Yahe,
Yang Yang,
Qian Xiaojie,
Chen Qiaomei,
Wei Yen,
Ji Yan
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
angewandte chemie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1521-3757
pISSN - 0044-8249
DOI - 10.1002/ange.201915694
Subject(s) - actuator , materials science , thermal stability , elastomer , siloxane , thermal , realization (probability) , nanotechnology , computer science , composite material , chemistry , polymer , organic chemistry , physics , statistics , mathematics , artificial intelligence , meteorology
Thermal reprogrammability is essential for new‐generation large dry soft actuators, but the realization sacrifices the favored actuation performance. The contradiction between thermal reprogrammability and stability hampers efforts to design high‐performance soft actuators to be robust and thermally adaptable. Now, a strategy has been developed that relies on repeatedly switching on/off thermal reprogrammability in liquid‐crystalline elastomer (LCE) actuators to resolve this problem. By post‐synthesis swelling, a latent siloxane exchange reaction can be induced in the common siloxane LCEs (switching on), enabling reprogramming into on‐demand 3D‐shaped actuators; by switching off the dynamic network by heating, actuation stability is guaranteed even at high temperature (180 °C). Using partially black‐ink‐patterned LCEs, selectively switching off reprogrammability allows integration of completely different actuation modes in one monolithic actuator for more delicate and elaborate tasks.