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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 27, 2026

Free-form Light Actuators — Fabrication and Control of Actuation in Microscopic Scale

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 Cheng^1,2, Zhenming Wang^1,3, 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

This summary is machine-generated.

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.

Keywords:

actuator liquid crystal elastomer metasurface photoluminescence thermography plasmonic photothermal effect

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Last Updated: May 27, 2026

Free-form Light Actuators — Fabrication and Control of Actuation in Microscopic Scale

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Published on: May 25, 2016

Microfluidic Preparation of Liquid Crystalline Elastomer Actuators

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Published on: May 20, 2018

Preparation of Monodomain Liquid Crystal Elastomers and Liquid Crystal Elastomer Nanocomposites

Preparation of Monodomain Liquid Crystal Elastomers and Liquid Crystal Elastomer Nanocomposites

Published on: February 6, 2016

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.