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Liquid-Crystal-Elastomer-Actuated Reconfigurable Microscale Kirigami Metastructures.

Mingchao Zhang1,2, Hamed Shahsavan2,3, Yubing Guo2

  • 1Key Laboratory of Organic Optoelectronics and Molecular Engineering of the Ministry of Education, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China.

Advanced Materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.)
|May 14, 2021
PubMed
Summary

Researchers developed microscale reconfigurable metastructures using liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) as artificial muscles. These smart kirigami structures enable wireless control for applications in soft robotics and wearable devices.

Keywords:
kirigamiliquid crystal elastomersreconfigurable metastructurestwo-photon polymerizationwireless microscale devices

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Area of Science:

  • Materials Science
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Robotics

Background:

  • Metastructures offer programmable actuation for advanced applications like smart structures and soft robotics.
  • Fabricating wireless, miniaturized, and reconfigurable metastructures at the micrometer scale presents significant challenges.
  • Stimuli-responsive materials are key to overcoming limitations in microscale actuation and reconfiguration.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To fabricate and demonstrate microscale thermo-responsive reconfigurable metasurfaces using liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs).
  • To utilize LCEs as artificial muscles for reconfiguring 2D microscale kirigami structures.
  • To explore the relationship between LCE formulation, kirigami geometry, and shape transformation for wireless microscale devices.

Main Methods:

  • Fabrication of microscale kirigami structures using two-photon polymerization with sub-micrometer precision.
  • Development of stimuli-responsive liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) as artificial muscles.
  • Integration of LCEs with kirigami structures for thermo-responsive actuation.
  • Computational simulations to guide experimental design and understand shape transformation behaviors.

Main Results:

  • Successful fabrication of microscale reconfigurable kirigami metastructures using LCE artificial muscles.
  • Demonstration of temperature-dependent shape transformation and switching capabilities.
  • Establishment of a relationship between kirigami geometry and shape transformation behavior.
  • Proof-of-concept applications in information encryption and temperature-responsive switching.

Conclusions:

  • Microscale reconfigurable kirigami metastructures using LCEs offer a promising platform for wireless actuation.
  • These findings advance the design and fabrication of microscale functional devices, wearables, and soft robots.
  • The developed technology has significant potential for fundamental research in small-scale metastructures and practical applications.