Related papers: Robust and Multifunctional Liquid-Metal Embedded E…
There is growing interest in transitioning electronic components and circuitry from stiff and rigid substrates to more flexible and stretchable platforms, such as thin plastics, textiles, and foams. In parallel, the push for more…
This study examines the mechanical behavior of a novel class of mechanical metamaterials alternating pentamode lattices and stiffening plates. The unit cell of such lattices consists of a sub-lattice of the face cubic-centered unit cell…
We investigate how controlled foaming alters the mechanical dissipation of liquid crystalline elastomers (LCEs). Using thermal expandable microspheres, we generate homogeneous foams with precisely tuned bubble volume fractions up to 13% and…
Cholesteric liquid crystal elastomers (CLCEs) change color under strain, offering attractive prospects for smart textiles, soft robotics, and photonic devices. However, the helical structure of CLCEs averages out the exceptional anisotropy…
All-around, real-time navigation and sensing across the water environments by miniature soft robotics are promising, for their merits of small size, high agility and good compliance to the unstructured surroundings. In this paper, we…
Liquid crystalline elastomers (LCEs) are shape-changing materials that exhibit large deformations in response to applied stimuli. Local control of the orientation of LCEs spatially directs the deformation of these materials to realize…
Unlike conventional two-dimensional (2D) semiconductor superlattices, moir\'{e} patterns in 2D materials are flexible and their electronic, magnetic, optical, and mechanical properties depend on their topography. Within a…
Liquid Crystal Elastomers with near-ambient temperature-responsiveness (NAT-LCEs) have been extensively studied for building bio-compatible, low-power consumption devices and robotics. However, conventional manufacturing methods face…
Liquid metal (LM) is of current core interest for a wide variety of newly emerging areas. However, the functional materials thus made so far by LM only could display a single silver-white appearance. Here in this study, the new conceptual…
The increasing demands of sustainable energy, electronics, and biomedical applications call for next-generation functional materials with unprecedented properties. Of particular interest are emerging materials that display exceptional…
Magnetic-responsive composites that consist of soft matrix embedded with hard-magnetic particles have recently been demonstrated as robust soft active materials for fast-transforming actuation. However, the deformation of the functional…
Liquid crystal elastomers are cross-linked elastomer networks with liquid crystal mesogens incorporated into the main or side chain. Polydomain liquid crystalline (nematic) elastomers exhibit unusual mechanical properties like soft…
In this paper, we speculate on a possible application of Liquid Crystal Elastomers to the field of soft robotics. In particular, we study a concept for limbless locomotion that is amenable to miniaturisation. For this purpose, we formulate…
Soft robots achieve functionality through tight coupling among geometry, material composition, and actuation. As a result, effective design optimization requires these three aspects to be considered jointly rather than in isolation. This…
Azo-dye-doped liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) are known to show a strong photomechanical response. We report on experiments that suggest that photothermal heating is the underlying mechanism in surface-constrained geometry. In particular,…
While rigid robots are extensively used in various applications, they are limited in the tasks they can perform and can be unsafe in close human-robot interactions. Soft robots on the other hand surpass the capabilities of rigid robots in…
Ferroelectric materials with switchable electric polarization hold great promise for a plethora of emergent applications, such as post-Moore's law nanoelectronics, beyond-Boltzmann transistors, non-volatile memories, and above-bandgap…
Soft and flexible conductors are essential in the development of soft robots, wearable electronics, as well as electronic tissue and implants. However, conventional soft conductors are inherently characterized by a large change in…
Liquid crystal elastomers are rubber-like solids with liquid crystalline mesogens (stiff, rod-like molecules) incorporated either into the main chain or as a side chain of the polymer. These solids display a range of unusual…
The rise of soft materials and additive manufacturing has provided the feasibility of developing elastomer lattices for various engineering applications. Although earlier attempts have been made to manufacture and test the elastomer…