Soft actuators based on liquid crystalline elastomers (LCEs) are captivating significant interest because of their unique properties combining the programmable liquid crystalline molecular order and elasticity of polymeric materials. For practical applications, the ability to perform multimodal shape changes in a single LCE actuator at a subsecond level is a bottleneck. Here, we fabricate a monodomain LCE powered by electrostatic force, which enables fast multidirectional bending, oscillation, rotation, and complex actuation with a high degree of freedom. By tuning the dielectric constant and resistivity in LCE gels, a complete cycle of oscillation and rotation only takes 0.1 s. In addition, monodomain actuators exhibit anisotropic actuation behaviors that promise a more complex deployment in a potential electromechanical system. The presented study will pave the way for electrostatically controllable isothermal manipulation for a fast and multimode soft actuator.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsami.3c13140 | DOI Listing |
J Ion Liq
December 2024
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Nevada Las Vegas, 4505 S. Maryland Parkway, Box 454003, Las Vegas, NV 89154, United States.
Dicationic ionic liquids (DILs) are emerging as a powerful, next-generation approach to designing applied ILs because of their superior physicochemical properties as well as their diverse complexity and tunability for task specific applications. DILs are scarce in the literature compared to monocationic ILs (MILs), and one of their main issues is their expected tendency to possess higher melting temperatures. A series of 1,4-bis[2-(4-pyridyl)ethenyl] benzene and 1,4-bis[2-(2-pyridyl)ethenyl]benzene quaternary salts (Q-BPEBs) with different counterions (bromide, tosylate, and triflimide) and carbon chain lengths (C, C, and C) have been synthesized for their potential as DILs with strong photoluminescent properties in the solid state.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicroscopy (Oxf)
December 2024
Institute for Extra-cutting-edge Science and Technology Avant-garde Research (X-star), Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), 2-15 Natsushima-cho, Yokosuka, Kanagawa 237-0061, Japan.
It is challenging to image structures in liquids for electron microscopy (EM); thus, low-temperature imaging has been developed, initially for aqueous systems. Organic liquids (OLs) are widely used as dispersants, although their cryogenic EM (cryo-EM) imaging is less common than that of aqueous systems. This is because the basic properties (e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAdv Sci (Weinh)
January 2025
Jožef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, 1000, Slovenia.
The recent discovery of ferroelectric nematic liquid crystalline phases marks a major breakthrough in soft matter research. An intermediate phase, often observed between the nonpolar and the ferroelectric nematic phase, shows a distinct antiferroelectric response to electric fields. However, its structure and formation mechanisms remain debated, with flexoelectric and electrostatics effects proposed as competing mechanisms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCarbohydr Polym
March 2025
Key Laboratory of Jianghuai Agricultural Product Fine Processing and Resource Utilization, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Anhui Engineering Research Center for High Value Utilization of Characteristic Agricultural Products, School of Tea & Food Science and Technology, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, China. Electronic address:
This research investigated the effect modified solvent-shifting method on the formation, ordered structure, and morphology of V-type starch. Ionic liquid (IL) dissolution and hot ethanol aqueous incubation in gradient concentrations from 30 % to 80 % (v/v) were applied to optimize the relative crystallinity of V-type starch. The results showed that this new method worked in producing V-type conformation, and higher ethanol concentration tended to yield V-type starch with higher crystallinity and more disk-like shape structure within the ethanol range of 30-50 % (v/v).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Colloid Interface Sci
December 2024
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA; High Meadows Environmental Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA. Electronic address:
Knowledge Gap: The aggregation of clay minerals in liquid water exemplifies colloidal self-assembly in nature. These negatively charged aluminosilicate platelets interact through multiple mechanisms with different sensitivities to particle shape, surface charge, aqueous chemistry, and interparticle distance and exhibit complex aggregation structures. Experiments have difficulty resolving the associated colloidal assemblages at the scale of individual particles.
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