Bioinspired Actuation of Liquid Crystal Elastomers with Hierarchical Structures Based on Light Response

Li-Zhi Zhang; Bo-Yu Liu; Chen Zhu; Lin Xu

doi:10.1007/s10118-025-3418-3

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Bioinspired Actuation of Liquid Crystal Elastomers with Hierarchical Structures Based on Light Response

RESEARCH ARTICLE | Updated：2025-10-30

- Bioinspired Actuation of Liquid Crystal Elastomers with Hierarchical Structures Based on Light Response
- Chinese Journal of Polymer Science Vol. 43, Issue 11, Pages: 1981-1990(2025)
- Affiliations：
  
  School of Mechanical Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China
- Author bio：
  
  1000003037@ujs.edu.cn
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1007/s10118-025-3418-3
  CLC：
- Received：13 July 2025，
  
  Accepted：02 August 2025，
  
  Online First：11 October 2025，
  
  Published：05 November 2025
- Accepted：
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Zhang, L. Z.; Liu, B. Y.; Zhu, C.; Xu, L. Bioinspired actuation of liquid crystal elastomers with hierarchical structures based on light response. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2025, 43, 1981–1990

Li-Zhi Zhang, Bo-Yu Liu, Chen Zhu, et al. Bioinspired Actuation of Liquid Crystal Elastomers with Hierarchical Structures Based on Light Response[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2025, 43(11): 1981-1990.
Zhang, L. Z.; Liu, B. Y.; Zhu, C.; Xu, L. Bioinspired actuation of liquid crystal elastomers with hierarchical structures based on light response. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2025, 43, 1981–1990 DOI： 10.1007/s10118-025-3418-3.

Li-Zhi Zhang, Bo-Yu Liu, Chen Zhu, et al. Bioinspired Actuation of Liquid Crystal Elastomers with Hierarchical Structures Based on Light Response[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2025, 43(11): 1981-1990. DOI： 10.1007/s10118-025-3418-3.

摘要

This study presents a bioinspired actuation strategy using LCEs with hierarchical structures for soft robotics. It achieves precise anisotropic control via mechanically pre-programmed LCEs responsive to NIR light. The study demonstrates potential in remote operation

adaptive grasping

and complex environment navigation.

Abstract

This work proposes a bioinspired hierarchical actuation strategy based on liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs)

inspired by the helical topological dynamic adaptation mechanism of plant tendrils

to overcome the bottleneck of precise anisotropic control in LCEs. Mechanically pre-programmed hierarchical LCE structures responsive to near-infrared (NIR) light were fabricated: the oriented constrained actuator achieves asymmetric contraction under NIR irradiation

enabling reversible switching between helix and planar morphologies with multi-terrain grasping capability; the biomimetic vine-like helical actuator

composed of Ag nanowire photothermal layers combined with helical LCE

utilizes temperature-gradient-induced phase transition wave propagation to achieve NIR-controlled climbing motion; the Möbius topology actuator realizes reversible deformation or self-locking states by tuning the twist angle (180°/360°); based on these

a bioinspired koala-like concentric soft robot was constructed

successfully demonstrating tree trunk climbing. This study reveals that artificial helical stretching significantly enhances the molecular chain orientation of LCEs (surpassing uniaxial stretching)

reaching up to 1000% pre-strain

and the AgNWs/LCE/PI (Polyimide) tri-layer structure achieves efficient photothermal-mechanical energy conversion

via

localized surface plasmon

resonance (LSPR). This study provides a new paradigm for soft robotics material design and topological programming

demonstrating the potential for remote operation and adaptive grasping.

关键词

Keywords

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