Photodeformable Liquid Crystal Polymer Materials and Smart Robots

Soft smart material is a new class of functional materials, which adjust chemical or physical properties in response to diverse external stimuli. Smart actuators constructed by such materials have various functions such as self-diagnosis, self-healing, self-adaptation, and other responsiveness, which will find use in the fields of intelligent bionics, machinery, medical, and military industries. Polymeric materials exhibiting liquid crystallinity are a typical representative of these smart materials, combining the features of polymers and liquid crystal materials, such as elasticity, anisotropy, self-assembly, and intermolecular cooperative effect. Owing to the advantages of light for remote, instantaneous, localized, and precise control, we have synthesized a variety of azobenzene-containing photoresponsive liquid crystal polymers moieties that can generate sophisticated movements including contraction/expansion, bending and twisting. These polymers are further processed into smart grippers, sensors, underwater robots, and other bionic devices by rational design, which brings about broad applications in artificial muscles, smart robotics and so on. Related research results have been published on journals like Nature, J. Am. Chem. Soc., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., Adv. Mater., Adv. Funct. Mater., etc., and financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

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