Reconfigurable Liquid Crystal Elastomer Director Patterns for Multi-Mode Shape Morphing

Liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) are a monolithic material with programmable three-dimensional (3D) morphing modes stemming from their designable non-uniform molecular orientations (or director). However, the shape morphing mode is generally fixed when director patterns of LCEs are determined. Multi-mode shape morphing is difficult to achieve since director patterns cannot be reconfigured. Herein, we demonstrate the ability to reconfigure LCE director patterns and initial shapes—and thus shape morphing modes—by the manual assembly and de-assembly of LCE pixels. We measured the mechanical properties of LCEs with and without UV glue and found their Young’s moduli were 9.6 MPa and 11.6 MPa. We firstly fabricate LCE pixels with designed director fields and then assemble 24 pixels with required director fields into an LCE film with a designed director pattern, which corresponds to a programmed shape morphing mode. We further exhibit that we can de-assemble the LCE film back into original pixels or new pixels with different shapes and then re-assemble them into a new film with a different initial shape and director pattern, which corresponds to a second programmed shape morphing mode. Principally, we can have a large amount of shape morphing modes if we have enough pixels. The demonstrated capability of multi-mode shape morphing enhances functions of LCEs, which broadens their applications in soft robotics, programmable origami/kirigami, responsive surfaces, and so on.