writer：Lu, H.; Nie, Z.; Bisoyi, H. K.; Wang, M.; Huang, S.; Chen, X.; Liu, Z.; Yang, H.*
keywords：Liquid Crystal Elastomer
source：期刊
specific source：Science China Materials, 2022, 65, 1679-1686.
Issue time：2022年

The low crosslink density characteristic of liquid

crystal elastomer (LCE) materials causes poor fatigue re-

sistance performance, which has seriously plagued their pro-

spects in industrial applications. Here we report that the

introduction of 5 wt% liquid metal nanodroplets (average

diameter: ca. 195 nm) into the LCE network can dramatically

reinforce the corresponding composite’s mechanical proper-

ties, in particular ultrahigh fatigue resistance, capable of

bearing unprecedented 10,000 tensile cycles within a large

range of strain amplitude up to 70% and 2000 times of con-

tinuous actuating deformations. Furthermore, this liquid

metal-incorporated LCE composite material exhibits large

actuation stroke (maximum actuation strain: 55%), high ac-

tuation stress (blocking stress: 1.13 MPa), fully reversible

thermal/photo-actuation functions, and self-healing ability at

moderate temperatures, which qualifies the composite mate-

rial for high-load actuators.