Microfiber Actuators With Hot-Pressing-Programmable Mechano-Photothermal Responses for Electromagnetic Perception

Electromagnetic radiation (EMR) is a ubiquitous harm and hard to detect dynamically in multiple scenarios. A mechano-photothermal cooperative microfiber film (MFF) actuator is developed that can synchronously detect EMR with high reliability. The programmable actuation is deployed by a hot-pressing methodology, achieving the MFF with moderate modulus (378 MPa) and superior toughness (87.26 MJ m^-3) that ensure superior response (0.068 cm^-1 s^-1) and bending curvature (0.63 cm^-1). A secondary hot-pressing can further program the actuation behavior with black phosphorus local photothermal enhancement patterns to achieve 2D-3D transformable geometries. An amphibious robot with a land-water adaptive locomotion mechanism is designed by programming the MFFs. It can crawl on land and locomote on water with a velocity up to ≈1.8 mm s^-1, and ≈2.39 cm s^-1, respectively. Employing the conductive fabric layer of the actuator with electromagnetic induction effect, the amphibious robot can synchronously perceive environmental EMR with sensitivity up to 99.73% ± 0.15% during locomotion, with superior adaptability to EMR source intensity (0.1 to 3000 W) and distance (≈9 m) compared to a commercial EMR detector. This EMR detective microfiber actuator can inspire a new direction of environment-interactive smart materials, and soft robots with multi-scenario adaptivity and autonomous environment perceptivity.