Light-powered self-excited motion of a liquid crystal elastomer rotator

Cheng, Quanbao; Liang, Xiaodong; Li, Kai

doi:10.1007/s11071-021-06250-4

Cited by 33 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…This is because that as the damping coefficient increases, the energy consumed by the system increases, and the net energy input during the oscillating decreases. This is consistent with physical tuition and other self-oscillating systems [57]. Figure 8e-h anti-phase mode.…”

Section: Effect Of Contraction Coefficientsupporting

confidence: 89%

“…This special composition and structure enable LCEs to respond to external light [46][47][48][49], heat [50], electric fields [51,52], magnetic fields [53] and chemical substances [54]. Based on LCE materials, several self-exciting motion modes have been constructed, such as rolling [20], vibration [17], swinging [10,55], stretching and shrinking [56], rotation [57], eversion or inversion [9,58], torsion [59], jumping [60], and buckling [61] modes. These self-exciting motion modes provide good ideas for studying the coupling of multiple systems and their collective motion.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Self-Sustained Collective Motion of Two Joint Liquid Crystal Elastomer Spring Oscillator Powered by Steady Illumination

Cheng

et al. 2022

Micromachines

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For complex micro-active machines or micro-robotics, it is crucial to clarify the coupling and collective motion of their multiple self-oscillators. In this article, we construct two joint liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) spring oscillators connected by a spring and theoretically investigate their collective motion based on a well-established dynamic LCE model. The numerical calculations show that the coupled system has three steady synchronization modes: in-phase mode, anti-phase mode, and non-phase-locked mode, and the in-phase mode is more easily achieved than the anti-phase mode and the non-phase-locked mode. Meanwhile, the self-excited oscillation mechanism is elucidated by the competition between network that is achieved by the driving force and the damping dissipation. Furthermore, the phase diagram of three steady synchronization modes under different coupling stiffness and different initial states is given. The effects of several key physical quantities on the amplitude and frequency of the three synchronization modes are studied in detail, and the equivalent systems of in-phase mode and anti-phase mode are proposed. The study of the coupled LCE spring oscillators will deepen people’s understanding of collective motion and has potential applications in the fields of micro-active machines and micro-robots with multiple coupled self-oscillators.

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Section: Effect Of Contraction Coefficientsupporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-Sustained Collective Motion of Two Joint Liquid Crystal Elastomer Spring Oscillator Powered by Steady Illumination

Cheng

et al. 2022

Micromachines

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“…In recent years, various self-oscillating systems based on diverse stimuli-responsive materials are reported, such as hydrogels [ 14 , 15 ], dielectric elastomers [ 16 ], ionic gels [ 17 ], liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) [ 7 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 ], and thermally responsive polymer materials [ 22 ], etc. Furthermore, a variety of self-sustained motion modes have been constructed, such as bending [ 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 ], buckling [ 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 ], torsion [ 31 , 32 ], stretching and shrinking [ 33 , 34 ], rolling [ 35 , 36 ], swimming [ 9 ], swinging [ 37 , 38 ], vibration [ 39 , 40 , 41 ], jumping [ 42 , 43 , 44 ], rotation [ 45 ], eversion or inversion [ 46 , 47 ], and even synchronized motion of several coupled self-oscillators [ 48 ]. These self-sustained motions often originate from nonlinear feedback mechanisms including self-shadowing [ 3 , 27 , 28 ], coupling of liquid volatilization and membrane deformation [ 49 ], coupling mechanism among air expansion and liquid column movement [ 50 ], and coupling of plate buckling and chemical reaction [ 18 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-Jumping of a Liquid Crystal Elastomer Balloon under Steady Illumination

Jin

Dai

et al. 2022

Polymers

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Self-oscillation capable of maintaining periodic motion upon constant stimulus has potential applications in the fields of autonomous robotics, energy-generation devices, mechano-logistic devices, sensors, and so on. Inspired by the active jumping of kangaroos and frogs in nature, we proposed a self-jumping liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) balloon under steady illumination. Based on the balloon contact model and dynamic LCE model, a nonlinear dynamic model of a self-jumping LCE balloon under steady illumination was formulated and numerically calculated by the Runge–Kutta method. The results indicated that there exist two typical motion regimes for LCE balloon under steady illumination: the static regime and the self-jumping regime. The self-jumping of LCE balloon originates from its expansion during contact with a rigid surface, and the self-jumping can be maintained by absorbing light energy to compensate for the damping dissipation. In addition, the critical conditions for triggering self-jumping and the effects of several key system parameters on its frequency and amplitude were investigated in detail. The self-jumping LCE hollow balloon with larger internal space has greater potential to carry goods or equipment, and may open a new insight into the development of mobile robotics, soft robotics, sensors, controlled drug delivery, and other miniature device applications.

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“…LCE generally has the characteristics of rapid deformation response, deformation recovery, and being noiseless. Compared with other types of active materials, LCE also has several unique advantages ( Lee et al (2011) ; Yamada et al (2008) ; Cheng et al (2021) ). For example, compared with pneumatic artificial muscles, temperature-sensitive gels, and moisture-sensitive gels, optically responsive LCE has the advantage of wireless, contactless driving, which is conducive to a lightweight structure and less affected by the environment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Self-Stabilized Inverted Pendulum Made of Optically Responsive Liquid Crystal Elastomers

Cheng

Zhou

2022

Front. Robot. AI

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The inverted pendulum system has great potential for various engineering applications, and its stabilization is challenging because of its unstable characteristic. The well-known Kapitza’s pendulum adopts the parametrically excited oscillation to stabilize itself, which generally requires a complex controller. In this paper, self-sustained oscillation is utilized to stabilize an inverted pendulum, which is made of a V-shaped, optically responsive liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) bar under steady illumination. Based on the well-established dynamic LCE model, a theoretical model of the LCE inverted pendulum is formulated, and numerical calculations show that it always develops into the unstable static state or the self-stabilized oscillation state. The mechanism of the self-stabilized oscillation originates from the reversal of the gravity moment of the inverted pendulum accompanied with its own movement. The critical condition for triggering self-stabilized oscillation is fully investigated, and the effects of the system parameters on the stability of the inverted pendulum are explored. The self-stabilized inverted pendulum does not need an additional controller and offers new designs of self-stabilized inverted pendulum systems for potential applications in robotics, military industry, aerospace, and other fields.

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Light-powered self-excited motion of a liquid crystal elastomer rotator

Cited by 33 publications

References 45 publications

Self-Sustained Collective Motion of Two Joint Liquid Crystal Elastomer Spring Oscillator Powered by Steady Illumination

Self-Sustained Collective Motion of Two Joint Liquid Crystal Elastomer Spring Oscillator Powered by Steady Illumination

Self-Jumping of a Liquid Crystal Elastomer Balloon under Steady Illumination

A Self-Stabilized Inverted Pendulum Made of Optically Responsive Liquid Crystal Elastomers

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