Abstract:
Liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs), as smart soft materials, have attracted much attention in recent years in the fields of artificial muscles, soft robots and smart wearables. Among them, LCE fibers have a broad application prospect due to their large reversible deformation, braidable properties and excellent mechanical strength. In this paper, LCE fibers with uniform diameter and good morphology are prepared by dry spinning and two-step crosslinking strategy, and then LM-LCE fibers with multi-stimulation response are prepared by uniformly coating liquid metal (LM) on the surface of LCE. The effect of the introduction of LM on the performance of LCE fibers was explored, and the driving performance of LM-LCE composite fibers was investigated, and the results showed that the LM-LCE composite fibers could reach about 40% of the actuation strain within 8s under thermal stimulation. Under the stimulation of infrared light (NIR), 30% of the fiber actuation strain can be achieved within 6 s. The results show that the LM-LCE composite fiber can be driven by the voltage of the fiber within 8 s. Under electrical stimulation, the fiber becomes larger in driving rate and driving performance with the increase of voltage, and the actuation strain can finally reach about 35%, which is slightly lower than that of thermal actuation. And the reuse performance of LM-LCE fiber is good, and the driving performance of the fiber is stable in 100 times of electric or thermal driving. The LM-LCE composite fiber actuator designed and prepared in this study provides a new idea for the construction of novel multi-stimulus responsive soft robots and flexible smart wearable devices.