All-in-One Luminescent Dielectric Elastomer Actuator Driven by a Single Electrical Stimulus with Large Out-of-Plane...

Dual-function soft actuators that combine actuation and luminescence have broad application prospects in bionics, information transmission, and encryption. However, traditional dual-function soft actuators require multiple stimuli to perform their functions concurrently, and they are slow to respond. Consequently, developing actuation-luminescence dual-function devices based on a single stimulus that can achieve fast and stable actuation is of great significance. Therefore, in this study, a dielectric elastomer actuator was integrated with the electroluminescent device by constructing an asymmetric electrode structure to decrease the voltage and optimizing the ZnS:Cu²⁺ phosphor content to balance actuation performance and luminescent stability. The resulting all-in-one device exhibits simultaneous out-of-plane actuation and luminescence under a single electrical stimulus, with a fast response (∼160 ms), high curvature (4.71 cm^-1), broad frequency response (0.5-15 Hz), excellent durability (20 000 cycles), and a synchronous luminous intensity of 72 nW/cm². In addition, we developed laser engraving technology to fabricate bionic luminescent butterflies and multi-size array devices, thereby expanding the applications of the dual-function devices in fields such as bionics and multi-environment displays. This strategy provides new ideas for the development of multifunctional soft actuators.