A Light‐Driven Actuator Enables Versatile Motion for Smart Transportation and Contactless Delivery

• Published in: Advanced optical materials Vol. 11; no. 6
• Main Authors: Hou, Ke‐Xin, Zhao, Pei‐Chen, Li, Cheng‐Hui
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Weinheim Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.03.2023
• Subjects: Actuators; Catechol; contactless transportation; Healing; Jet flow; Light; light‐propelled; Marangoni convection; Materials science; Optics; photothermal; Photothermal conversion; self‐healing; Structural design; Surface tension; Transportation; Vapor jets; versatile motion
• ISSN: 2195-1071; 2195-1071
• DOI: 10.1002/adom.202202949

Light‐driven actuators are advantageous among various actuators because it enables remote, contactless, and localized manipulation without any complex equipment. However, most of them rely solely on the Marangoni effect which is slow in velocity and would be quenched in liquid with low surface tension force. Here, a dual‐mode actuator based on both the Marangoni effect and vapor jet flow is reported through the introduction of an excellent photothermal polymer crosslinked by Fe3+/catechol coordination bonds. The light‐driven ship not only realizes multimode motions such as forward, backward, rotation and obstacle crossing at the air/water interface, but also enables smart transportation and contactless delivery which has not been realized before. Moreover, the incorporation of photothermal conversion performance and self‐healing ability into near‐infrared photo‐responsive actuators at the molecular level can guarantee facile fabrication and prolong the service time of the light‐driven actuators which is the first dual‐mode light‐driven actuator with self‐healing ability. This work provides a new strategy for the structural design and application of the liquid/air interface light‐driven self‐propelled device. A polymer with excellent photothermal effect, self‐healing ability, and adjustable mechanical property is obtained by Fe3+‐catechol crosslinking. It is then used to prepare light‐driven actuators which show brilliant performance based on the Marangoni effect and vapor jet flow. The light‐driven ship realizes versatile motion crossing obstacles, smart transportation, and non‐contact delivery.