A new and general design is demonstrated for a liquid crystal polymer network (LCN)-based actuator to perform near-infrared (NIR) light-guided locomotion. The actuator is a structured trilayer, comprising a thin reduced graphene oxide (RGO) top layer, an inactive polymer middle layer and an active LCN bottom layer. Exposing the RGO side to a moving NIR laser, a moving wave along the strip actuator is generated, which makes the strip an effective caterpillar walker whose light-driven locomotion has appealing attributes. On one hand, in contrast to most LCN-based actuators that move on a ratcheted substrate surface or need a supporting plastic frame, the trilayer actuator moves on either horizontal or inclined untreated surfaces. On the other hand, while known actuators using the photothermal effect are usually prepared by mixing the nanofiller used as a NIR light heater with the polymer, which may reduce the reversible deformation degree and increase the compatibility concerns, the easy trilayer fabrication method laminates directly a “sheet” of RGO on thick polymer layers, which circumvents the potential problems.

中文翻译：

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液晶聚合物三层致动器的近红外光驱动运动†

展示了一种新的通用设计，用于基于液晶聚合物网络（LCN）的执行器，以执行近红外（NIR）光导运动。致动器是结构化的三层，其包括薄的还原氧化石墨烯（RGO）顶层，惰性聚合物中间层和活性LCN底层。将RGO一侧暴露于移动的NIR激光器中，会产生沿条带执行器的运动波，这使条带成为有效的履带行走器，其光驱动运动具有吸引人的属性。一方面，与大多数在棘轮基片表面上移动或需要支撑塑料框架的基于LCN的致动器相反，三层致动器在水平或倾斜的未处理表面上移动。另一方面，