Design and printing of embedded conductive patterns in liquid crystal elastomer for programmable electrothermal actuation

ABSTRACT

Here we developed a novel strategy to predict and control the electrothermal property and deformation pattern of electrically stimuli-responsive structures by printing programmable conductive patterns inside liquid crystal elastomer (LCE). It was found that the printed conductive patterns had excellent electrothermal performance and can be heated up to 120°C within 12 s under the stimulus of an applied voltage. By controlling the width and spacing of the conductive lines, the electrothermal temperature of bilayer LCE structures can be regionally modulated, which subsequently determines the structural deformation for desired actuation. A finite element simulation method was established to accurately predict the effect of different conductive pattern design on the final deformation profiles, which showed a good consistence to the experimental results. The presented strategy exhibited unique capability in fabricating conductive pattern-embedded electrothermal structures for various programmable deformations like wing flapping, soft robot crawling and finger bending.

KEYWORDS:

• Programmable conductive pattern
• 3D printing
• deformation prediction
• liquid crystal elastomer (LCE)
• electrothermal actuation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The supplementary videos that support the results and findings of this study are available in Figshare at https://figshare.com/s/9e028e7a8cff3d619191.

Additional information

Funding

This work was financially supported by the State Key Laboratory of Mechanical Transmissions (SKLMT-ZDKFKT-202102), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (52125501), the Key Research Project of Shaanxi Province (2020GXLH-Y-021, 2021GXLH-Z-028), Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (2020B1515130002), The Youth Innovation Team of Shaanxi Universities and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities.

Notes on contributors

Ziyao Huo

Ziyao Huo is a PHD student at the State Key Laboratory for Manufacturing Systems Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University (China). Her research interests include design and additive manufacturing of electroactive soft actuators.

Jiankang He

Dr. Jiankang He is a full professor in the Mechanical Engineering of Xi'an Jiaotong University, China. He is currently the vice director of the State Key Lab for Manufacturing Systems Engineering. His research interests include biofabrication and multiscale additive manufacturing.

Huayan Pu

Dr. Huayan Pu is currently a Professor of Chongqing University, China. Her current research interests include artificial intelligence, vibration controlling, and robotics.

Jun Luo

Dr. Jun Luo is a professor of Chongqing University in China. He is currently the director of the State Key Laboratory of Mechanical Transmissions. His research interests include artificial intelligence, sensing technology, and special robotics.

Dichen Li

Dr. Dichen Li is a full professor at Xi'an Jiaotong University in China. He is currently the director of the State Key Lab for Manufacturing System Engineering. His research scope covers additive manufacturing and biofabrication.