3D printing of reprogrammable liquid crystal elastomers with exchangeable boronic ester bonds
Xinzi Yu,
Changyue Liu,
Liqian Wang,
Tianyu Li,
Lingxin Yuan,
Jiping Yang,
Rui Xiao,
Zhijian Wang
Affiliations
Xinzi Yu
Key Laboratory of Aerospace Advanced Materials and Performance, Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, 100191, China.; China Academy of Space Technology, Beijing, 100094, China
Changyue Liu
Key Laboratory of Aerospace Advanced Materials and Performance, Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, 100191, China.
Liqian Wang
State Key Laboratory of Fluid Power and Mechatronic Systems Key Laboratory of Soft Machines and Smart Devices of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
Tianyu Li
Key Laboratory of Aerospace Advanced Materials and Performance, Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, 100191, China.
Lingxin Yuan
Key Laboratory of Aerospace Advanced Materials and Performance, Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, 100191, China.
Jiping Yang
Key Laboratory of Aerospace Advanced Materials and Performance, Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, 100191, China.
Rui Xiao
State Key Laboratory of Fluid Power and Mechatronic Systems Key Laboratory of Soft Machines and Smart Devices of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China; Corresponding authors.
Zhijian Wang
Key Laboratory of Aerospace Advanced Materials and Performance, Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, 100191, China.; Tianmushan Laboratory, Xixi Octagon City, Yuhang District, Hangzhou, 310023, China; Corresponding authors.
Liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) are a kind of soft actuating materials with large reversible deformation ability, which can work as the “motor” to exhibit complex deformations and drive the locomotion of soft robots. The deformation of LCEs depends on the three-dimensional (3D) shape of whole structure and alignment patterns of mesogens. Various methods have been employed to fabricate the LCE structure with desired shapes and mesogen alignments. However, conventional 3D printed LCEs require continuous thermal energy input to maintain their actuated shapes. The LCEs cannot be reprocessed and reprogrammed once cured. Herein, we introduce dynamic boronic ester bonds into the ink, with which the printed LCE structures are capable of being reprogrammed from polydomain into monodomain state and vice versa. We further explore the effects of printing parameters and content of dynamic covalent bonds on the actuation performance and reprogramming ability. The actuated shape could be well predicted with finite element method. The dynamic printable LCEs developed here offer new strategy and large design space for LCE structures.
