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  4. Melt-extruded light-responsive amphibious liquid crystal elastomer fibers with reprogrammable actuation modes
 
research article

Melt-extruded light-responsive amphibious liquid crystal elastomer fibers with reprogrammable actuation modes

Wan, Xue
•
Debije, Michael G.
•
Sorin, Fabien  
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February 1, 2025
Chemical Engineering Journal

Untethered liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) fiber actuators are promising candidates for soft actuators due to their analogies to biological muscles. However, most LCE fiber actuators are difficult to (re)program and primarily only work in air, which significantly hinders their underwater applications. Here, tens-of-meters-long, millimeter-diameter, light-responsive, amphibious LCE fiber actuators with high actuation force are fabricated by melt extruding a thermoplastic LCE containing azobenzene photoswitches and hydrogen-bonding crosslinks. The dynamic hydrogen bonds enable the fibers to be reprogrammed into stretched, twisted, or coiled configurations. The actuators demonstrate contracting/expanding and simultaneous rotating motions under ultraviolet light both in air and water environments. The twisted and helical fiber actuators demonstrate rotations of 57° mm−1 and 14° mm−1, respectively, while lifting loads up to 0.08 g underwater, which is approximately 28 times greater than their own weight. The actuation performance enables the control of the movement of an embedded optical fiber while emitting light and the opening and closing of a fiber-sewn fabric in water. A woven multi-material textile sequentially demonstrates contraction in the longitudinal direction under light stimulus in water, followed by contraction in the latitudinal direction under heat stimulus. This work provides a strategy for fabricating light-responsive underwater fiber actuators, with potential applications as artificial muscles and biomedical devices.

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Type
research article
DOI
10.1016/j.cej.2025.159358
Scopus ID

2-s2.0-85214805625

Author(s)
Wan, Xue

Technische Universiteit Eindhoven

Debije, Michael G.

Technische Universiteit Eindhoven

Sorin, Fabien  

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Chen, Mei

School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Zhou, Kun

School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Schenning, Albert P.H.J.

Technische Universiteit Eindhoven

Date Issued

2025-02-01

Published in
Chemical Engineering Journal
Volume

505

Article Number

159358

Subjects

Fiber actuators

•

Light response

•

Liquid crystal elastomers

•

Smart textiles

•

Underwater actuation

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
FIMAP  
Available on Infoscience
January 25, 2025
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/244284
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