Affiliation:
1. The Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Phosphorus Chemistry & Chemical Biology (Ministry of Education) Department of Chemistry Tsinghua University Beijing 100084 China
2. Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences Key Laboratory of Polymer Chemistry and Physics of Ministry of Education Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering Peking University Beijing 100871 China
3. Department of Chemistry Center for Nanotechnology and Institute of Biomedical Technology Chung‐Yuan Christian University Chung‐Li Taiwan 32023 China
Abstract
AbstractIt is common knowledge that when an elastomer (rubber) is stretched, its length will be maintained if its two ends are fixed. Here, it is serendipitously found that when an elastomer is slowly elongated further to achieve buckling under such conditions, the final length is much longer than the pre‐stretched length. This allows the design of untethered autonomous synthetic‐material‐based soft robots that do not need any other chemical or electrical energy sources or external stimuli after the pre‐strain is installed. Once the growth starts, the elongation continues to proceed even when the applied force is removed. Moreover, the elastomer, after growing, eventually forms a robust soft actuator that can be reshaped for different purposes. Few synthetic materials can grow like this, so far. This investigation shows that the material has an uncommon liquid crystal phase. Contrary to normal liquid crystals, it becomes birefringent only at high temperatures. The formation and the reshaping of the resulting soft actuators relate to a usually unnoticed reversible reaction. The work is promising to promote further understanding of dynamic covalent chemistry and liquid crystal elastomers, as well as to foster new designs and high‐impact applications of bioinspired sustainable soft actuators in areas other than soft robots.
Funder
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Subject
Mechanical Engineering,Mechanics of Materials,General Materials Science
Cited by
15 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献