Multi-functional locomotion of collectively assembled shape-reconfigurable electronics

Abstract

Beyond typical flexible electronics, stimuli-responsive shape-reconfigurable electronics are great candidates for the next-generation miniaturized electronics, carrying out complex missions by morphing their geometry and transferring their bodies to the desired positions. To achieve shape-reconfigurable electronics, it is essential to give shape-programmability as well as high electrical conductivity for polymeric materials. However, this is difficult to achieve due to a trade-off relationship between the shape-reconfigurability and the electrical conductivity of polymer composites that embed conductive fillers. Herein, we introduced highly conductive and physical intelligence-encoded polymeric composites based on MXene/liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) bilayer (MLB), for shape-reconfigurable electronics performing on-demand and reversible 3D morphing and locomotion. The MLB demonstrated remarkable photo-/electro-thermally driven bending and twisting performance under near-infrared (NIR) light with 0.4 W cm−2 and voltage application of 3.5 V without delamination due to both high photothermal conversion efficiency and electrical conductivity of ∼5,300 S cm−1. The MLB also proved structural durability after 1,000 cycles of bending originating from the stable interface induced by hydrogen bonding between MXene and LCE. Importantly, macroscopic collective assembly of the MLBs enabled dynamic locomotion inspired by nature. Collectively assembled MLBs demonstrated crawling, rotating, jumping, and sling-shooting by engineering the symmetricity of assembled structure and introducing snap-through instability.