Stimuli‐responsive photonic actuators for integrated biomimetic and intelligent systems

Abstract Photonic actuators, serving as an emerging kind of intelligent stimuli‐responsive material, can exhibit the abilities to change their structural colors/fluorescence and shapes under specific external stimuli, which have demonstrated essential applications in the fields of intelligent soft robotics, sensors, bionics, information storage, anti‐counterfeiting, and energy harvesting. In this review, we reported the state‐of‐the‐art research progress of stimuli‐responsive photonic actuators classified on the basis of the material type and focusing on the actuation mechanisms, design principles, and processing techniques. We also broadly summarized the relative applications of photonic actuators in bionics, intelligent robots, sensors, and so on. Finally, a vision for the challenges in the area and future promising directions of stimuli‐responsive photonic actuators is presented.