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Repeatedly Programmable Liquid Crystal Dielectric Elastomer with Multimodal Actuation.

Chengcheng Zhang1, Guancong Chen1, Kaihang Zhang2,3

  • 1State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, College of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China.

Advanced Materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.)
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Summary

Researchers developed liquid crystal dielectric elastomers (LC-DEs) that can change actuation modes with temperature. This innovation allows for adaptable soft robots with reconfigurable functions, mimicking biological systems.

Keywords:
dielectric elastomerliquid crystal elastomerlow electric fieldprogrammable multimodal actuator

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Area of Science:

  • Materials Science
  • Polymer Science
  • Robotics

Background:

  • Dielectric elastomers (DEs) offer muscle-like actuation but are limited to single, fixed modes.
  • Biological systems exhibit adaptable actuation, a capability lacking in current DE devices.
  • Reconfigurable actuation is crucial for advanced soft robotics and biomimetic applications.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To develop novel liquid crystal dielectric elastomers (LC-DEs) with reconfigurable, multimodal actuation.
  • To enable DE devices to alter actuation modes in response to external stimuli like temperature.
  • To create soft robotic components with adaptive capabilities.

Main Methods:

  • Preparation of liquid crystal dielectric elastomers (LC-DEs).
  • Utilizing thermally triggered liquid crystal phase transitions to alter material shape and bending stiffness.
  • Programming and reprogramming material shapes via force-directed solvent evaporation and bond exchange-enabled stress relaxation.
  • Investigating actuation modes under an applied electric field.

Main Results:

  • LC-DEs exhibit distinct dielectric actuation modes corresponding to different shapes induced by phase transitions.
  • The material's shape and stiffness are reprogrammable before and after the liquid crystal phase transition.
  • A significantly reduced driving electric field (8 V µm⁻¹) and bidirectional actuation were achieved.
  • Demonstrated multimodal dielectric actuation behaviors controllable by temperature changes.

Conclusions:

  • Developed LC-DEs offer adaptable, multimodal actuation, overcoming limitations of traditional DEs.
  • The ability to reprogram shapes and alter actuation modes provides design versatility for soft robots.
  • This work paves the way for soft robots with adaptive functionalities inspired by biological systems.