Visible Light-Driven Soft Actuator Exhibiting Multistage Shape Morphing

Traditional soft robots, while praised for their flexibility and biocompatibility, often face challenges with complex motion and adaptability. In this work, a visible light-driven liquid crystalline network (LCN) film with a multistage photo-responsive behavior is judiciously designed and prepared. By integrating donor-acceptor stenhouse adducts (DASAs) into LCN matrix, it is found that the DASA exhibits polymerization temperature-dependent isomerization, indicating an opportunity to fabricate complex photo-driven soft actuators and devices by simply adjusting the polymerization conditions. By carefully controlling the polymerization temperature of LC/DASA precursor, the photo-induced color change as well as the photothermal effect of LCN film can be finely controlled with spatial precision so that the prepared DASA-LCN film presents multistage color changes and shape morphing under a constant visible light field. Finally, a soft actuator with time-resolved light-responsive deformations is achieved. This advancement demonstrates a straightforward method to prepare self-adaptive light-driven LCN devices without tedious synthesis, paving the way for soft robots that are not only reconfigurable but also inherently adaptive.