Untethered cylindrical liquid crystal elastomer actuators based on centrifugal fabrication process

Creating soft cylindrical actuators that perform diverse programmable and controllable shape transformations upon the applied stimuli would enable wide applications in scientific and engineering areas. Liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) are a prominent material in the development of soft cylindrical actuators due to their unique actuation properties, such as large, reversible and anisotropic deformability, versatile structural design, high processability and programmability, etc . Herein, we design and fabricate LCE soft cylindrical actuators based on a centrifugal process. Cylindrical LCE actuators with diverse three-dimensional geometries and spatial molecular orientation architectures were produced through this effective, readily accessible and facile fabrication platform, and exhibited multiple and sophisticated shape-morphing modes. By using the fabricated cylindrical LCE actuators, multi-functional untethered smart machines and soft robots were built, and demonstrated excellent walking, locomotion and maneuver performances.