Key Laboratory of Organic Optoelectronics & Molecular Engineering of the Ministry of Education, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China.
Small. 2021 Nov;17(44):e2103700. doi: 10.1002/smll.202103700. Epub 2021 Sep 21.
Liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) fibers are capable of large and reversible deformations, making them an ideal artificial muscle. However, limited to stimulating source and structural design, current LCE fibers have not yet achieved both large contraction ratio and fast contraction rate to perform the intense motion. In this work, electrothermal-responsive liquid metal (LM) containing LCE (LM-LCE) fibers is reported. By introducing flexible liquid metal, LM-LCE fibers retain deformability with a large contraction ratio similar to that of pure LCE fibers and are endowed with electrical responsiveness. Applying precisely controlled electrical stimulation, the contraction ratio and rate of LM-LCE fibers can be programmed by adjusting voltage value and pulse time. Under electrical stimulation at 1.25 V cm , 0.1 s, LM-LCE fibers can produce over 40% contraction ratio at an ultrafast contraction rate of up to 280% s . Furthermore, LM-LCE fibers mimic human triceps muscle and can conduct precise ball shooting. LM-LCE fibers with excellent contraction ratio and rate extend their functionality as artificial muscles to perform intense movements and are expected to enrich the challenging applications of soft robots.
液晶弹性体（LCE）纤维能够实现大的、可回复的变形，这使它们成为理想的人造肌肉。然而，由于受到刺激源和结构设计的限制，目前的 LCE 纤维还没有同时实现大的收缩比和快的收缩率，以实现剧烈运动。在这项工作中，报道了一种电热响应的含液晶弹性体的液态金属（LM-LCE）纤维。通过引入柔性液态金属，LM-LCE 纤维保留了可变形性，其收缩比与纯 LCE 纤维相似，并且具有电响应性。通过施加精确控制的电刺激，通过调整电压值和脉冲时间，可以对 LM-LCE 纤维的收缩比和速率进行编程。在 1.25 V cm 的电刺激下，0.1 s 时，LM-LCE 纤维可以在超快的收缩率下产生超过 40%的收缩比，达到 280% s 。此外，LM-LCE 纤维模拟了人类的三头肌，可以进行精确的投篮。具有优异的收缩比和速率的 LM-LCE 纤维将其作为人造肌肉的功能扩展到执行剧烈运动，有望丰富软机器人的挑战性应用。
