Liquid Crystalline Dielectric Elastomer with Thermo- and Light-guided Multimodal Electrical Actuations

Sha-Fan Xiong; Cheng-Cheng Zhang; Bin-Jie Jin; Bao-Chun Guo

doi:10.1007/s10118-026-3603-z

Your Location：

Home >

Browse articles >

Liquid Crystalline Dielectric Elastomer with Thermo- and Light-guided Multimodal Electrical Actuations

RESEARCH ARTICLE | Updated：2026-03-18

- Liquid Crystalline Dielectric Elastomer with Thermo- and Light-guided Multimodal Electrical Actuations
- Chinese Journal of Polymer Science Vol. 44, Pages: 1-8(2026)
- Affiliations：
  
  a.Institute of Emergent Elastomers, School of Materials Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China
  b.State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering and Low-carbon Technology, College of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
- Author bio：
  
  11928059@zju.edu.cn (C.C.Z.)
  binjiejin@scut.edu.cn (B.J.J.)
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1007/s10118-026-3603-z
  CLC：
- Received：31 December 2025，
  
  Revised：2026-01-25，
  
  Accepted：29 January 2026，
  
  Online First：18 March 2026，
  
  Published：2026-02
- Accepted：
Scan QR Code
Xiong, S. F.; Zhang, C. C.; Jin, B. J.; Guo, B. C. Liquid crystalline dielectric elastomer with thermo- and light-guided multimodal electrical actuations. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-026-3603-z

Sha-Fan Xiong, Cheng-Cheng Zhang, Bin-Jie Jin, et al. Liquid Crystalline Dielectric Elastomer with Thermo- and Light-guided Multimodal Electrical Actuations[J/OL]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 441-8.
Xiong, S. F.; Zhang, C. C.; Jin, B. J.; Guo, B. C. Liquid crystalline dielectric elastomer with thermo- and light-guided multimodal electrical actuations. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-026-3603-z DOI：

Sha-Fan Xiong, Cheng-Cheng Zhang, Bin-Jie Jin, et al. Liquid Crystalline Dielectric Elastomer with Thermo- and Light-guided Multimodal Electrical Actuations[J/OL]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 441-8. DOI： 10.1007/s10118-026-3603-z.

摘要

Abstract

Dielectric elastomers (DEs) actuated

via

the space charge mechanism are characterized by low driving electric fields (2−10 V/μm) and geometry-dependent actuation modes. Liquid crystalline dielectric elastomers (LC-DEs) leverage shape changes induced by thermo-responsive order-disorder transitions to alter their actuation mode with temperature. However

such systems are currently limited to thermal responsiveness and exhibit only two actuation modes-a constraint that stands in stark contrast to the flexibility and diverse actuation capabilities of natural muscles. To overcome this limitation

we present an azobenzene-based liquid crystalline dielectric elastomer (A-LC-DE) capable of multimodal actuation

enabled by its dual thermo- and photo-responsive shape-changing properties. The incorporation of azobenzene moieties allows for mesogen alignment

via

light attenuation during photo-inhibited network formation. Thi

s facilitates programmable thermo-responsive shape changes by varying the irradiation conditions during synthesis

thereby enabling two distinct dielectric actuation modes upon heating and cooling. Furthermore

the

trans

cis

photoisomerization of azobenzene endows the A-LC-DE with dynamic

light-responsive shape-changing behavior. This capability allows for the creation of diverse and reconfigurable actuation modes through spatially localized irradiation. As a result

our A-LC-DE exhibits multimodal electrical actuation that can be selectively guided by external thermal and optical stimuli

promising enhanced adaptability for future soft robotic systems.

关键词

Keywords

references

Carpi, F.; Kornbluh, R.; Sommer-Larsen, P.; Alici, G. Electroactive polymer actuators as artificial muscles: are they ready for bioinspired applications. Bioinspir. Biomim. 2011 , 6 , 045006..

Mirvakili, S. M.; Hunter, L. W. Artificial muscles: mechanisms, applications, and challenges. Adv. Mater. 2018 , 30 , 1704407..

Wei, Y.; Li, B.; Fu, C.; Qi, H. Electroactive conducting polymers for biomedical applications. Acta Polymerica Sinica (in Chinese) 2010 , 1399−1405..

Zhang, H.; Lin, Z.; Hu, Y.; Ma, S.; Liang, Y.; Ren, L.; Ren, L. Low-voltage driven ionic polymer-metal composite actuators: structures, materials, and applications. Adv. Sci . 2023 , 10 , 2206135..

Yan, Y.; Santaniello, T.; Bettini, L. G.; Minnai, C.; Bellacicca, A.; Porotti, R.; Denti, I.; Faraone, G.; Merlini, M.; Lenardi, C.; Milani, P. Electroactive ionic soft actuators with monolithically inte grated gold nanocomposite electrodes. Adv. Mater. 2017 , 29 , 1606109..

Kong, L.; Chen, W. Carbon nanotube and graphene-based bioinspired electrochemical actuators. Adv. Mater. 2014 , 26 , 1025−1043..

Wang H.; Yang, L.; Yang, Y.; Zhang, D.; Tian, A. Highly flexible, large-deformation ionic polymer metal composites for artificial muscles: Fabrication, properties, applications, and prospects. Chem. Eng. J. 2023 , 469 , 143976..

Ma, S.; Zhang, Y.; Liang, Y.; Ren, L.; Tian, W.; Ren, L. High-performance ionic-polymer-metal composite: toward large-deformation fast-response artificial muscles. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2020 , 30 , 1908508..

Wang, H. S.; Cho, J.; Song, D. S.; Jang, J. H.; Jho, J. Y.; Park, J. H. High-performance electroactive polymer actuators based on ultrathick ionic polymer–metal composites with nanodispersed metal electrodes. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2017 , 9 , 21998..

Qiu, Y.; Zhang, E.; Plamthottam, R.; Pei. Q. Dielectric elastomer artificial muscle: materials innovations and device explorations. Accounts of chemical research. Acc. Chem. Res. 2019 , 52 , 316−325..

Liu, S.; Wang, X.; Ning, N.; Tian, M. Preparation of high performance dielectric elastomers by tailoring the aggregation structure of polyurethane. Acta Polymerica Sinica (in Chinese) 2023 , 54 , 266−276..

Li, G.; Chen, X.; Zhou, F.; Liang, Y.; Xiao, Y.; Cao, X.; Zhang Z.; Zhang, M.; Wu, B.; Yin, S.; Xu, Y.; Fan, H.; Chen, Z.; Song, W.; Yang, W.; Pan, B.; Hou, J.; Zou, W.; He, S.; Yang, X.; Mao, G.; Jia, Z.; Zhou, H.; Li, T.; Qu, S.; Xu, Z.; Huang, Z.; Luo, Y.; Xie, T.; Gu, J.; Zhu, S.; Yang, W. Self-powered soft robot in the Mariana trench. Nature 2021 , 591 , 66−71..

Chen, Y.; Zhao, H.; Mao, J.; Chirarattananon, P.; Helbling, E. F.; Hyun, N. P.; Clarke, D. R.; Wood, R. J. Controlled flight of a microrobot powered by soft artificial muscles. Nature 2019 , 575 , 324−329..

Shi, Y.; Askounis, E.; Plamthottam, R.; Libby, T.; Peng, Z.; Youssef, K.; Pu, J.; Pelrine, R.; Pei, Q. A processable, high-performance dielectric elastomer and multilayering process. Science 2022 , 377 , 228−232..

[Acome, E.; Mitchell, S. K.; Morrissey, T. G.; Emmett, M. B.; Benjamin C.; King, M.; Radakovitz, M.; Keplinger, C.; Hydraulically amplified self-healing electrostatic actuators with muscle-like performance. Science 2018 , 359 , 61−65..

Tang, J.; Chen, Z.; Cai ,Y.; Gao, Y.; He, J.; Xiao, Y.; Mao, J.; Zhao J.; Gao, X.; Li, T.; Luo, Y. Composite elastomers with on-demand convertible phase separations achieve large and healable electro-actuation. Mater. Horiz. 2023 , 10 , 4501−4509..

Vatankhah-Varnoosfaderani, M.; Daniel, W. F.; Zhushma, A. P.; Li, Q.; Morgan, B. J.; Matyjaszewski, K.; Armstrong, D. P.; Spontak, R. J.; Dobrynin, A. V.; Sheiko, S. S. Bottlebrush elastomers: A new platform for freestanding electroactuation. Adv. Mater. 2017 , 29 , 1604209..

Yin, L.; Zhao, Y.; Zhu, J.; Yang, M.; Zhao, H.; Pei, J.; Zhong, S.; Dang, Z. Soft, tough, and fast polyacrylate dielectric elastomer for non-magnetic motor. Nat. Commun. 2021 , 12 , 4517..

Zhang, C.; Jin, B.; Cao, X.; Chen, Z.; Miao, W.; Yang, X.; Luo, Y.; Li, T.; Xie, T. Dielectric polymer with d esignable large motion under low electric field. Adv. Mater. 2022 , 34 , 2206393..

Zhang, C.; Chen, G.; Zhang, K.; Jin, B.; Zhao, Q.; Xie, T. Repeatedly programmable liquid crystal dielectric elastomer with multimodal actuation. Adv. Mater. 2024 , 36 , 2313078..

Ware, T. H.; McConney, M. E.; Wie, J. J.; Tongdiglia, V. P.; White, T. J. Voxelated liquid crystal elastomers. Science 2015 , 347 , 982−984..

Pei, Z.; Yang, Y.; Chen, Q.; Terentjev, E. M.; Wei, Y.; Ji, Y. Mouldable liquid-crystalline elastomer actuators with exchangeable covalent bonds. Nat. Mater. 2014 , 13 , 36−41..

McBride, M. K.; Martinez, A. M.; Cox, L.; Alim, M.; Childress, K.; Beiswinger, M.; Podgorski, M.; Worrell ,B. T.; Killgore J.; Bowman, C. N. A readily programmable, fully reversible shape-switching material. Sci. Adv. 2018 , 4 , eaat4634..

Fang, M.; Liu, T.; Xu, Y.; Jin, B.; Zheng, N.; Zhang, Y.; Zhao, Q.; Jia, Z.; Xie, T. Ultrafast digital fabrication of designable architectured liquid crystalline elastome r. Adv. Mater. 2021 , 33 , 2105597..

Chen, G.; Jin, B.; Shi, Y.; Zhao, Q.; Shen, Y.; Xie, T. Rapidly and repeatedly reprogrammable liquid crystalline elastomer via a shape memory mechanism. Adv. Mater. 2022 , 34 , 2201679..

Jin, B.; Liu, J.; Shi, Y.; Chen, G.; Zhao, Q.; Yang, S. Solvent-assisted 4D programming and reprogramming of liquid crystalline organogels. Adv. Mater. 2022 , 34 , 2107855..

Yao,W., Liu, L. S, Zhao J., Wang, Y., Ma, A., Ma, Z., Lan, R. Tunable phase structure of side-chain liquid crystalline polymers enabled by molecular engineering of dual mesogenic cores. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2024 , 42 , 1459−1469..

Chen X, Chen J, Song X, Du, T., Deng, X., Deng, Z., Lan, R. Bioinspired mechanochromic liquid crystal materials: from fundamentals to functionalities and applications. Adv. Mater. 2024 , 36 , 2403766..

Lan, R., Hu, X., Chen, J., Zeng, X., Chen, X., Du, T., Yang, H. Adaptive liquid crystal polymers based on dynamic bonds: from fundamentals to fun ctionalities. Respons. Mater. 2024 , 2 , e20230030..

Jiang, Z.; Xiao, Y.; Yin, L.; Han, L.; Zhao, Y. “Self-Lockable” Liquid crystalline Diels-Alder dynamic network actuators with room temperature programmability and solution reprocessability. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed . 2020 , 132 , 4955−4961..

Song, C.; Zhang, Y.; Bao, J.; Wang, Z.; Zhang, L.; Sun, J.; Lan, R.; Yu, Z.; Zhu, S.; Yang, H. Light-responsive programmable shape-memory soft actuator based on liquid crystalline polymer/polyurethane network. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2023 , 33 , 2213771..

Peng, Y.; Wang, T.; Li, H.; Yang, R.; Li, J. Synthesis of main-chain azobenzene liquid crystalline copolyester with side hydroxyl group and its photoresponsive behavior. Acta Polymerica Sinica (in Chinese) 2020 , 51 , 267−276..

Huang, X.; Qin, L.; Wang, J.; Zhang, X.; Peng, B.; Yu, Y. Multiple shape manipulation of liquid crystal polymers containing diels-alder network. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2022 , 32 , 2208312..

Chen, Z.; Ma, Z.; Tang, J.; Xiao, Y.; M ao, J.; Cai, Y.; Zhao, J.; Gao, X.; Li, T.; Luo, Y. Adaptively reconstructing network of soft elastomers to increase strand rigidity: towards free-standing electro-actuation strain over 100%. Mater. Horiz. 2021 , 8 , 2834−2841.

Views

Downloads

CSCD

Alert me when the article has been cited

Submit

Tools

Publicity Resources

Active Pillar Array Structure by Solvent-free Liquid Crystal Elastomer Resin

Soft Crawling and Flipping Robots Based on Liquid Metal-Liquid Crystal Elastomer Composites

Liquid Crystalline Hydrogel Capable of Thermally-induced Dual Actuation

Investigating the Influence of Printing Parameters on the Helical Deformation of 4D-printed Liquid Crystal Elastomer Fiber-actuators

Cooperative Supramolecular Polymerization of Propeller-Shaped Triphenylamine Cyanostilbenes for Explosive Detection

Related Author

Zhi-Jian Wang

Ji-Ping Yang

Tian-Yu Li

Zi-Xuan Wang

Chang-Yue Liu

Ling-Xin Yuan

Yue Zhao

Yi-Ming Chen

Related Institution

Tianmushan Laboratory

Key Laboratory of Aerospace Advanced Materials and Performance, Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beihang University

Département de chimie, Faculté des sciences, Université de Sherbrooke,, Quebec

Département de chimie, Université de Sherbrooke,, Québec

Center for Molecular Science and Engineering, College of Science, Northeastern University

⁰