液晶弹性体复合纤维材料在智能响应领域的研究进展

Recent progress of liquid crystal elastomer composite fiber materialsin smart drive field

摘要:

液晶弹性体（LCEs）是一种包含液晶基元轻度交联的聚合物网络，兼具聚合物网络的软弹性和液晶基元的各向异性。通过编程分子取向可使液晶弹性体在受到外界环境的刺激下实现非接触运动，表现出优异的弹性和驱动性能，在人工肌肉、软体机器人和可穿戴设备领域中显示了巨大的潜力。液晶弹性体纤维作为LCEs的一种常见存在形式，由于纤维内液晶基元取向度高，对于各类型刺激响应更为灵敏，且具有良好的可编程特性和优异的机械强度，使其在众多领域展现出广阔的应用前景。本文综述了液晶弹性体纤维的主要制备方法、分析了其对不同类型刺激的响应驱动机理，详细介绍了光响应型液晶弹性体的分类，并阐明了光热转换过程和远程驱动调控机制。此外，本文分析了不同驱动方式的液晶弹性体纤维体系，简要论述了纤维基LCEs复合材料在柔性传感、智能驱动、软体机器人、人工肌肉等方面的最新研究进展，并对其发展前景进行了展望。

Abstract:

Liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) are a kind of slightly cross-linked polymer network containing liquid crystal units, which combine the soft elasticity of polymer networks with the anisotropy of liquid crystal substrates Note that LCEs realize non-contact motion under the stimulation of external environment via using program molecular orientation, which exhibiting excellent elasticity and drive performances. These results further verify LCEs possess great potential in practical applications of artificial muscles, software robots and wearable devices. Liquid crystal elastomer fibres, as a common form of LCEs, exhibit broad application prospects in many fields due to its higher orientation of the liquid crystal substrates within the fiber, more sensitive response to various stimulation, good programmability and excellent mechanical strength. This paper reviews the main preparation methods of liquid crystal elastomer fibers, analyzes the driving response mechanism to different types of stimuli, systematically introduces the classification of photo-responsive liquid crystal elastomers, and elucidates the photothermal conversion process and the remote drive regulation mechanism. In addition, the liquid crystal elastomer fiber systems with different driving modes are analyzed, and the latest research progress in the fields of flexible sensing, intelligent driving, biomimetic, and artificial muscle of fiber-wiper LCEs composites are briefly discussed, and its development prospect is also prospected in this paper.