3D Magnetic Liquid Crystal Elastomer Composite Structures for Untethered Soft Robotics

Reversible programming of 3D soft mesostructures is desired for many applications including soft robotics. The large, reversible shape changes of liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs), which result from the coupling between the alignment of liquid crystal (LC) molecules and the macroscopic deformation of polymer networks, have attracted much attention for such applications. In this talk, I will discuss our recent effort in developing a facile and versatile strategy to create reconfigurable, freestanding 3D mesostructures of LCEs and magnetic LCE composites for soft robotics via spatially programming LC molecules. Experimental and theoretical results of more than 20 reconfigurable 3D LCE mesostructures of diverse configurations and their large, reversible shape-switching behaviors over multiple cycles will be demonstrated. In addition, an LCE gripper and a robot of ferromagnetic LCE composites that simultaneously responds to magnetic and thermal stimuli for diverse biomimetic behaviors, especially crawling underneath a narrow crack, will be used to illustrate the integration of other functional materials to LCEs for multifunctional systems.