JOURNAL OF APPLIED POLYMER SCIENCE
·
2020
·Vol. 138
·期 4
·49748
·
IF 2.52
Qian Zhang,Guokang Chen,Kun Wu,Jun Shi,Liyan Liang,Mangeng Lu
The booming of modern electronic devices featuring increasing power and multi-functionalization demands novel high thermal conductive materials with various functions, such as self-healing property and high deformability, while traditional polymer-based or metallic-based materials could hardly provide. Therefore, we report a high thermal conductive and disulfide-based self-healable and reprocessible liquid crystalline elastomer (SHLCE) composite by incorporating graphene nanoplates (GNPs) fillers. The obtained GNPs/SHLCE composites exhibited desired thermal conductivity (5.08 Wm −1 K −1 ) when the content of GNPs was 20 wt% to the composites. Moreover, the GNPs/SHLCE composites showed intriguing recycled performance (Tensile strength after recycle could maintain over 93% compared with that of original composites). Furthermore, we concluded that the improved thermal conductivity of GNPs/SHLCE composites was beneficial to the thermal induced reprocessible and shelf-healable systems.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
纳米技术
✓ 已验证
DOI
高影响因子
Journal of Materials Chemistry B
·
2016
·Vol. 4
·期 45
·7293-7302
·
IF 4.872
Xiyang Liu,Seong-Ku Kim,Xiaogong Wang
It is highly desirable to fabricate liquid crystalline elastomer (LCE) devices with novel functions for applications in different areas. In this study, LCE capillaries with biomimetic peristaltic function are fabricated for the first time to mimic the peristaltic crawling locomotion of earthworms. A specifically designed LC cell was prepared for this purpose, which consisted of two coaxial glass capillaries coated with polyimide alignment layers on the inner cell surfaces. The side-on LCE capillaries were fabricated by photoinitiated polymerization/crosslinking of a monomer and a crosslinker in the LC cells. The results show that owing to the effect of the alignment layers on the LC cell walls, the mesogenic units in the network structures are predominantly oriented along the capillary axis. Reversible thermomechanical contraction and expansion are observed for the LCE capillaries, which show a relative contraction of 16% in the length and a relative expansion of 12% in the diameter upon the nematic to isotropic phase transition. When placed in a glass tube with an appropriate inner diameter, reversible peristaltic crawling locomotion of the LCE capillaries is realized by moving a heating source outside the tube along its axis. Under typical conditions, the peristaltic crawling motion shows a moving speed of 0.31 mm s−1. The mechanism of the peristaltic crawling of the LCE capillary is elucidated with the assistance of the finite elemental analysis (FEA) simulation. A five-stage motion model is established to rationalize these observations and correlate the observations with the crawling locomotion of earthworms. The LCE capillary with the peristaltic crawling locomotion function promises its potential applications in biomimetic miniature robots and actuators.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
仿生学
·
力学
✓ 已验证
DOI
高影响因子
MACROMOLECULAR RAPID COMMUNICATIONS
·
2022
·Vol. 43
·期 6
·2100717
·
IF 5.006
Zui Liu,Guangqiang Guo,Junqiu Liao,Yongjie Yuan,Hailiang Zhang
Photoresponsive liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) have aroused much attention due to their unique structures, properties, and potential applications. However, many reported photoresponsive LCEs show small photoinduced deformation with a slow deformation speed, which limits their application to a certain extent. In this article, multiple hydrogen bond component and biphenyl component was introduced into photoresponsive LCEs bearing cyanostilbene by copolymerization, and prepared a series of LCEs CSm-BPn (CS and BP means cyanostilbene and biphenyl component, respectively; m, n means the content ratio of CS and BP). All uniaxially oriented CSm-BPn fibers show photoinduced deformation behavior under 365 nm UV light except for CS0-BP5. The introduction of hydrogen bond and the decrease of glass transition temperature realize large deformation and fast deformation speed. Besides, the properties of LCEs are successfully regulated by changing the content ratio of each component. What's more interesting is that the addition of appropriate amount of biphenyl can significantly improve and manipulate the deformation property of the CSm-BPn fibers. The maximum bending angle can reach 175 ° , and the whole photoinduced deformation process only takes 11 s. The photoresponsive LCEs with such large bending angle and fast deformation rate are rarely reported.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
高分子化学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
Advanced Materials Technologies
·
2021
·Vol. 7
·期 6
·2101260
·
IF 7.848
Wei Liao,Zhongqiang Yang
Integration of multiple functions into a simple unit can simplify the device design and facilitate the miniaturization and portability of soft robots. Actuating and sensing functions are the basis of soft robots to interact with the environment. In this work, a modified melt-spinning method is used to produce liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) fibers with a hollow structure and fill the core with liquid metal (LM) to construct LCE–LM coaxial fibers with integrated sensing and actuation functions. The inner LM generates Joule heat upon an electrical trigger to actuate the outer LCE shell. When LCE–LM coaxial fibers are actuated or loaded with objects, the deformation of LCE shell forces the inner LM to reform, allowing to sense the motion of the fibers or the mass of objects, by measuring the feedback voltage or resistance change of the inner LM. Benefitting from the material selection and structural design, the LCE–LM coaxial fibers with integrated actuating and sensing capability exhibit large reversible contraction (40%) and reliable durability (5000 cycles for actuation and motion sensing). Finally, a soft three-arm Delta robot is fabricated to complete object identification, sorting tasks, and in situ monitoring the motion process.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
机器人学
✓ 已验证
DOI
高影响因子
ADVANCED MATERIALS
·
2021
·Vol. 34
·期 9
·2107840
·
IF 30.849
Yunpeng Wang,Jiahao Sun,Wei Liao,Zhongqiang Yang
Untethered twist fibers do not require end-anchoring structures to hold their twist orientation and offer simple designs and convenient operation. The reversible responsiveness of these fibers allows them to generate torque and rotational deformation continuously upon the application of external stimuli. The fibers therefore have potential in rotating microengines. In practical applications, high torque and rotational deformation are desirable to meet work capacity requirements. However, the simultaneous endowment of reversible responsiveness and high rotational performance to untethered twist fibers remains a challenge. In this study, a liquid crystal elastomer twist fiber (LCETF) is designed and developed with a fixed twisting alignment of mesogens to provide untethered and reversible responsiveness. Outstanding rotational performance can be achieved when the mesogenic orientation is disrupted through heat triggering. Owing to the significant intrinsic contractile ratio of the LCE material, the rotational deformation of the LCETF can reach 243.6° mm −1 . More importantly, the specific torque can reach 10.1 N m kg −1 , which exceeds previously reported values. In addition, the LCETF can be exploited in a rotating microengine to convert heat into electricity with an induction voltage as high as 9.4 V. This work broadens the applications of LCEs for energy harvesters, micromachines, and soft robots.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
能源技术
·
机器人学
✓ 已验证
DOI
高影响因子
POLYMER
·
2024
·
IF 4.1
Yuzhou Chen,Xiaolan Li,Jiaming Wang,Dong Zhou,Lishuang Yao,Yu Huang,Yongjun Liu
Liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) have recently gained significant attention in the field of smart materials due to their ability to respond to external stimuli, offering substantial potential for practical applications in soft robotics and bioengineering where actuation and sensing are crucial. However, conventional LCEs typically have high driving thresholds, significantly limiting their practical utility. Thus, reducing the driving temperature of LCEs remains a critical challenge in current research. In contrast to complex chemical molecular modifications aimed at lowering the driving threshold, our work employs a straightforward one-step cross-linking method to synthesize bisacrylate LCEs with varying compositions . These LCEs exhibit remarkably low driving temperatures and improved actuation performance. The monofunctional and difunctional acrylate liquid crystal mixtures employed in our experiments possess different ranges of anisotropy and can be effectively incorporated into the liquid crystal elastomers . Following polymerization, these LCEs demonstrate actuation capabilities at temperatures as low as −18 °C while maintaining excellent performance even at elevated temperatures of up to 60 °C. Moreover, in a series of 50 repeat experiments, the LCEs exhibited exceptional repeatability with a minimal error rate of 2.0 %. Additionally, the introduction of carbon nanotubes into the LCEs resulted in achieving a significant angular deflection of up to 100° within a narrow range of low light intensities, specifically between 26.19 mW cm −2 and 32.38 mW cm −2 , highlighting the continued effectiveness of these materials even with this modification.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
智能材料
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL
·
2025
·
IF 13.2
Zhenhua He,Saihua Jiang,Jianji Wang,Nour F. Attia,Dai Kang,Gang Zhou,Shu Xiao
Human sweat glands can response to hot environment and autonomously discharge perspiration, taking away heat through evaporation. This biological feedback can affect the external stimuli, that is, reduce skin temperature. Inspired by the sweat gland, a skin actuator based on liquid crystal elastomer was fabricated. Benefit by the inherent properties of LCE, the actuator has the advantages of fast response and autonomous response without electronics. The actuator is obtained by direct ink writing printing of LCE ink. The actuation performance of LCE filament is optimized by adjusting printing parameters. The printing path is designed to achieve complex actuating deformation of LCE actuator. Two printed LCE components are assembled to obtain LCE chamber actuator. The influence of LCE chamber actuator with different shapes on the discharging capability is characterized. Array the LCE chamber actuators to obtain LCE skin actuator which can respond to overheating and locally discharge liquid to control the surrounding temperature. Benefit from the advantages of LCE and the structural design, the skin actuator can realize temperature control, which can maintain its surrounding temperature about 10 ℃ below the heating temperature. This work demonstrates the new opportunities for applications in temperature monitoring and local overheating protection.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
仿生学
·
智能材料
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
MACROMOLECULAR CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
·
2020
·Vol. 221
·期 11
·2000071
·
IF 2.335
Xiuxiu Wang,Nan Zhao,Ban Qin,Jiaojiao Xu,Wenlong Yang,Chensha Li,Liguo Sun,Jianqi Zhang
For the first time, an ultrasonics sonochemistry method is developed to promote the one-pot hydrosilylation polyaddition polymerization and crosslinking reaction in the preparation of polysiloxane main-chain liquid-crystalline elastomers (MC-LCEs). Due to the extraordinary effect of acoustic cavitation, the polyaddition polymerization and crosslinking reaction can be successfully carried out in an ordinary laboratory ultrasonic cleaner at room temperature, and generates the LCE matrix network in about 30 min. The prepared MC-LCEs demonstrate good quality, good properties, and stimuli-actuation performances. Compared to the traditional thermal processing methods for preparing polysiloxane MC-LCEs, this method exhibits superior properties rapidly, with high convenience and efficiency, and can be a path for batch fabrication at low cost. The work also demonstrates that the ultrasonics sonochemistry method is effective in generating linear main-chain liquid crystal polymers through hydrosilylation polyaddition and polysiloxane side-chain LCE matrix through hydrosilylation crosslinking reaction, thus confirming the high availability of ultrasonics sonochemistry in the processes of hydrosilylation polymerization, crosslinking reactions, or synchronous polymerization and crosslinking reactions.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
高分子化学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
CHINESE JOURNAL OF POLYMER SCIENCE
·
2021
·Vol. 39
·期 12
·1609-1616
·
IF 3.603
Wang Meng,Chu Da,Liu Li,Huang Shuai,Chen Xu-Man,Liu Zhi-Yang,Yang Hong
Reversible switching from a highly rough surface to another entirely smooth surface under external stimuli is crucial for intelligent materials applied in the fields of anti-fogging, self-cleaning, oil-water separation and biotechnology. In this work, a thermal-responsive liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) surface covered with oriented micropillars is prepared via a facile two-step crosslinking method coupled with an extrusion molding program. The reversible change of topological structures of the LCE surface along with temperature is investigated by metallographic microscope, atomic force microscopy and optical contact angle measuring system. At room temperature, the LCE sample is filled with plenty of micropillars with an average length of 8.76 µm, resulting in a super-hydrophobic surface with a water contact angle (WCA) of 135°. When the temperature is increased to above the clearing point, all the micropillars disappear, the LCE surface becomes entirely flat and presents a hydrophilic state with a WCA of 64°. The roughness-related wetting property of this microstructured LCE surface possesses good recyclability in several heating/cooling cycles. This work realizes a truly reversible transformation from a highly rough surface to an entirely smooth surface, and might promote the potential applications of this dynamic-responsive LCE surface in smart sensors and biomimetic control devices.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
生物技术
·
表面工程
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
ADVANCED MATERIALS
·
2021
·Vol. 33
·期 52
·2105597
·
IF 30.849
Mengqi Fang,Tao Liu,Yang Xu,Binjie Jin,Ning Zheng,Yue Zhang,Qian Zhao,Zheng Jia,Tao Xie
The muscle-like activities of liquid crystalline elastomers (LCEs) offer great potential for designing future soft machines. Their motion complexity, however, relies on inflexible and cumbersome mesogen alignment techniques. Here, a digital photocuring method for ultrafast template-free fabrication of LCE artificial muscles capable of designable complex motions is reported. This method utilizes the intrinsic light attenuation in the through-plane direction to create mesogen alignment for reversible bending action. To turn this simple actuation into complex motions, the principles of muscles are borrowed which realize diverse motions through the cooperative actions of otherwise simple contraction/expansion of individual muscle bundles. Specifically, the spatiotemporal digital light is utilized to design LCE architectures composed of strategically arranged bending modules. As such, LCE capable of highly designable motions can be fabricated within 25 s light curing without employing any physical alignment templates, which offers an attractive option toward designing functionally diverse soft machines.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
生物仿生学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS
·
2022
·Vol. 33
·期 9
·2211914
·
IF 19.924
Ruixue Liang,Haojie Yu,Li Wang,Di Shen
Light-guided soft actuators with dynamic polymer networks have drawn much attention in recent years. However, the application of such actuators is limited by their synthetic strategies, polymer structures, and shape-morphing modes. This work reports a new class of liquid crystalline elastomer (LCE) actuators crosslinked by mussel-inspired catechol-Fe (III) complexes. The actuators are mechanically strong while being self-healable, shape-reprogrammable, and reprocessable. Importantly, the formation of catechol-Fe (III) complexes enables the single-component LCE network to exhibit outstanding photothermal effects without any light-absorbing additives. Thus, actuators with designable structures and complex shape-morphing capabilities can be readily programmed with mechanical force coupled with either environmental heating or NIR light irradiation. Furthermore, the material platform provides a robust and flexible way to fabricate actuators with different dimensional structures varying from 1D to 3D. The LCE shows great potential in robotic fields, and as a proof-of-concept, a crawling robot, C-Bot, is specially designed. The robot is capable of moving untethered both on solid-substrate and water surfaces under the guidance of light based on the mechanisms of shape-morphing and Marangoni propulsion, respectively. Surprisingly, different from the vast majority of previously reported LCE-based robots, the C-Bot is strong enough to carry a heavy load while moving.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
软体机器人领域
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS
·
2023
·Vol. 33
·期 44
·2302110
·
IF 19
Yawen Liu,Yahe Wu,Huan Liang,Hongtu Xu,Yen Wei,Yan Ji
Conductive structures determine the functions and actuation modes of electrically responsive soft actuators. The rewritability of conductive structures is highly desirable but has not been realized in electro-driven actuators. Typically, once conductive pathways are established, they can hardly be modified; thus, the function of the actuator is permanently fixed. In this study, poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) is developed as a rewritable conductive coating for actuators composed of liquid crystalline elastomers (LCEs). This enables reconfigurable, adaptive, and precisely controllable electro-driven motions and the repeated use of the same actuator for various purposes without disposal. Moreover, different PEDOT:PSS layers can be coated onto different regions, thus enabling the assembly of different actuation behaviors in a monolithic actuator under a single input voltage. Unlike all previously reported soft actuators that respond to electricity and light, opposite shape changes in an actuator with a series circuit can be performed under these two stimuli. Furthermore, when combining LCEs with dynamic covalent bonds, the PEDOT:PSS-coated LCE (PEDOT:PSS-LCE) actuator can be reprogrammed based on two different mechanisms: rewriting the conductive PEDOT:PSS patterns and re-aligning the LCEs. This versatile method can be adapted to other types of actuators.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
软体机器人
·
智能材料
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
危险品化学品经营许可证（带存储）