Light-fuelled freestyle self-oscillators

Hao Zeng (), Markus Lahikainen, Li Liu, Zafar Ahmed, Owies M. Wani, Meng Wang, Hong Yang and Arri Priimagi ()
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Hao Zeng: Tampere University
Markus Lahikainen: Tampere University
Li Liu: Southeast University
Zafar Ahmed: Tampere University
Owies M. Wani: Tampere University
Meng Wang: Southeast University
Hong Yang: Southeast University
Arri Priimagi: Tampere University

Nature Communications, 2019, vol. 10, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Self-oscillation is a phenomenon where an object sustains periodic motion upon non-periodic stimulus. It occurs commonly in nature, a few examples being heartbeat, sea waves and fluttering of leaves. Stimuli-responsive materials allow creating synthetic self-oscillators fuelled by different forms of energy, e.g. heat, light and chemicals, showing great potential for applications in power generation, autonomous mass transport, and self-propelled micro-robotics. However, most of the self-oscillators are based on bending deformation, thereby limiting their possibilities of being implemented in practical applications. Here, we report light-fuelled self-oscillators based on liquid crystal network actuators that can exhibit three basic oscillation modes: bending, twisting and contraction-expansion. We show that a time delay in material response dictates the self-oscillation dynamics, and realize a freestyle self-oscillator that combines numerous oscillation modes simultaneously by adjusting the excitation beam position. The results provide new insights into understanding of self-oscillation phenomenon and offer new designs for future self-propelling micro-robots.

Date: 2019
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-13077-6

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