Traveling Wave Rotary Micromotor Based on a Photomechanical Response in Liquid Crystal Polymer Networks

Dradrach, Klaudia; Rogóż, Mikołaj; Grabowski, Przemysław; Chen, Xuan; Węgłowski, Rafał; Konieczkowska, Jolanta; Schab‐Balcerzak, Ewa; Piecek, Wiktor; Wasylczyk, Piotr

doi:10.1021/acsami.9b20309

Cited by 20 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…fabricated flat ring‐like micromotors using azo‐LCPs with the two surfaces possessing azimuthal−azimuthal (A/A‐motor) or azimuthal−radial LC orientation (A/R‐motor). [ 110 ] When a rotated 532 nm laser beam with a power of 5.0 W irradiated locally on the position of the micromotors, the local heating of the azo‐LCPs induced by photothermal effect caused a reversible nematic‐isotropic phase transition, producing 3D deformations. As a result, the A/A‐motor deformed into a conical structure, while the A/R‐motor exhibited a saddle topology.…”

Section: Lc Actuators For Mechanical Outputmentioning

confidence: 99%

Liquid Crystal Soft Actuators and Robots toward Mixed Reality

Zhu

Jiang

et al. 2021

Adv Funct Materials

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Liquid crystals (LCs) are soft but smart materials that can adjust its chemical or physical properties in response to various external stimuli. Using these materials to construct soft actuators and robots, referred as LC actuators and robots, is expected to replace current machinery part, obtaining lighter and smaller equipment with adjustable and complex functions. Especially, combining these LC actuator and robots with existing virtual reality and augmented reality technologies will produce a new world of mixed reality (MR) with the visual, auditory, and somatosensory interaction. In this review, the recent work on responsive LC actuators and robots is introduced, emphasizing on their potentials in haptic use. By discussing their programmable control via suitable stimuli, the LC actuators and robots are summarized for mechanical outputs, environmental mimic, and fine‐tuning of surface texture and roughness. It is anticipated that the continuous development on LC actuators and robots will accelerate the MR technology toward practical application.

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Section: Lc Actuators For Mechanical Outputmentioning

confidence: 99%

Liquid Crystal Soft Actuators and Robots toward Mixed Reality

Zhu

Jiang

et al. 2021

Adv Funct Materials

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“…Shape programmability of both LCEs and LCNs has gained much attention in the burgeoning fields of soft robotics and stimuli‐responsive structures and devices, [ 23–37 ] albeit relying on simple 2D initial geometries, such as thin films, has hampered their extensive applications. In recent years, the development of new chemical formulations, like thiol–acrylate click chemistry, and novel fabrication techniques, like 3D printing, have introduced new opportunities in the shape‐change programmability of LCEs and LCNs through the manipulation of their initial geometry to 3D shapes.…”

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

3D Microstructures of Liquid Crystal Networks with Programmed Voxelated Director Fields

2020

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The shape‐shifting behavior of liquid crystal networks (LCNs) and elastomers (LCEs) is a result of an interplay between their initial geometrical shape and their molecular alignment. For years, reliance on either one‐step in situ or two‐step film processing techniques has limited the shape‐change transformations from 2D to 3D geometries. The combination of various fabrication techniques, alignment methods, and chemical formulations developed in recent years has introduced new opportunities to achieve 3D‐to‐3D shape‐transformations in large scales, albeit the precise control of local molecular alignment in microscale 3D constructs remains a challenge. Here, the voxel‐by‐voxel encoding of nematic alignment in 3D microstructures of LCNs produced by two‐photon polymerization using high‐resolution topographical features is demonstrated. 3D LCN microstructures (suspended films, coils, and rings) with designable 2D and 3D director fields with a resolution of 5 µm are achieved. Different shape transformations of LCN microstructures with the same geometry but dissimilar molecular alignments upon actuation are elicited. This strategy offers higher freedom in the shape‐change programming of 3D LCN microstructures and expands their applicability in emerging technologies, such as small‐scale soft robots and devices and responsive surfaces.

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“…In the case of such heating, generated by light absorption, the fast photomechanical response can be used to remotely power and control mechanisms [8][9][10]. Selective heating by temporally and/or spatially modulated laser beam(s) has been demonstrated in devices performing various tasks, including rotary micro-motors [11], also in micro-scale [12][13][14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Light-Driven Linear Inchworm Motor Based on Liquid Crystal Elastomer Actuators Fabricated with Rubbing Overwriting

2021

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Linear displacement is used for positioning and scanning, e.g., in robotics at different scales or in scientific instrumentation. Most linear motors are either powered by rotary drives or are driven directly by pressure, electromagnetic forces or a shape change in a medium, such as piezoelectrics or shape-memory materials. Here, we present a centimeter-scale light-powered linear inchworm motor, driven by two liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) accordion-like actuators. The rubbing overwriting technique was used to fabricate the LCE actuators, made of elastomer film with patterned alignment. In the linear motor, a scanned green laser beam induces a sequence of travelling deformations in a pair of actuators that move a gripper, which couples to a shaft via friction moving it with an average speed in the order of millimeters per second. The prototype linear motor demonstrates how LCE light-driven actuators with a limited stroke can be used to drive more complex mechanisms, where large displacements can be achieved, defined only by the technical constrains (the shaft length in our case), and not by the limited strain of the material. Inchworm motors driven by LCE actuators may be scaled down to sub-millimeter size and can be used in applications where remote control and power supply with light, either delivered in free space beams or via fibers, is an advantage.

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Traveling Wave Rotary Micromotor Based on a Photomechanical Response in Liquid Crystal Polymer Networks

Cited by 20 publications

References 42 publications

Liquid Crystal Soft Actuators and Robots toward Mixed Reality

Liquid Crystal Soft Actuators and Robots toward Mixed Reality

3D Microstructures of Liquid Crystal Networks with Programmed Voxelated Director Fields

Light-Driven Linear Inchworm Motor Based on Liquid Crystal Elastomer Actuators Fabricated with Rubbing Overwriting

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