Ultrafast, High-Contractile Electrothermal-Driven Liquid Crystal Elastomer Fibers towards Artificial Muscles

Liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) fibers are capable of large and reversible deformations, making them an ideal artificial muscle. However, limited to stimulating source and structural design, current LCE fibers have not yet achieved both large contraction ratio and fast contraction rate to perform the intense motion. In this work, electrothermal-responsive liquid metal (LM) containing LCE (LM-LCE) fibers is reported. By introducing flexible liquid metal, LM-LCE fibers retain deformability with a large contraction ratio similar to that of pure LCE fibers and are endowed with electrical responsiveness. Applying precisely controlled electrical stimulation, the contraction ratio and rate of LM-LCE fibers can be programmed by adjusting voltage value and pulse time. Under electrical stimulation at 1.25 V cm(-1), 0.1 s, LM-LCE fibers can produce over 40% contraction ratio at an ultrafast contraction rate of up to 280% s(-1). Furthermore, LM-LCE fibers mimic human triceps muscle and can conduct precise ball shooting. LM-LCE fibers with excellent contraction ratio and rate extend their functionality as artificial muscles to perform intense movements and are expected to enrich the challenging applications of soft robots.

Automated summary

LM-LCE fibers, incorporating liquid metal, exhibit large reversible deformations and electrical responsiveness. Through controlled electrical stimulation, their contraction ratio and rate can be programmed, enabling them to perform rapid and intense movements such as precise ball shooting. These fibers extend the functionality of artificial muscles and hold promise for challenging applications in soft robotics.