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Updated: May 27, 2026
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Free-form Light Actuators — Fabrication and Control of Actuation in Microscopic Scale
Published on: May 25, 2016
Metasurface-Enabled Light-Driven Liquid Crystal Elastomer Actuators
Ming Cheng1,2, Zhenming Wang1,3, Xueqian Zhao1
1Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China.
Advanced Materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.)
|May 26, 2026
Summary
Researchers developed advanced soft actuators using liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) and plasmonic metasurfaces. This innovation enables precise, efficient shape-morphing for biomedical devices and microrobotics, overcoming limitations of previous technologies.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Nanotechnology
- Soft Robotics
Background:
- Liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) are promising for soft actuators but conventional methods lack spatial control and efficiency.
- Photothermal LCE actuators struggle with wavelength versatility, particularly at 980 nm.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce a plasmonic metasurface strategy for spatially selective, high-efficiency photothermal actuation in LCEs.
- To overcome the limitations of conventional photothermal LCE actuators, especially at the 980 nm wavelength.
Main Methods:
- Patterning gold nanostructures onto LCEs to create localized heating "hot spots" under near-infrared (NIR) illumination.
- Utilizing photoluminescence thermography to visualize and quantify thermal gradients.
- Integrating metasurface patterning with photoalignment for diverse actuation modes.
Main Results:
- Achieved high photothermal conversion efficiency, low driving power, and fast response times at 980 nm.
- Demonstrated spatially selective, patterned actuation with programmable shape-morphing.
- Successfully created complex 2D bending and 3D morphing behaviors.
Conclusions:
- The plasmonic metasurface strategy offers a new paradigm for high-performance soft actuators.
- This approach enables advanced applications in soft robotics, adaptive optics, and responsive systems.
- The study provides insights into nanoscale heating and macroscopic heat transfer for actuator design.
