Light responsive shape-changing polymers are able to mimic the function of biological muscles accomplishing mechanical work in response to selected stimuli. A variety of manufacturing techniques and chemical processes can be employed to shape these materials to different length scales, from centimeter fibers and films to 3D printed micrometric objects trying to replicate biological functions and operations. Controlled deformations shown to mimick basic animal operations such as walking, swimming or grabbing objects, while also controlling the refractive index and the geometry of devices, opens up the potential to implement tunable optical properties. Another possibility is that of combining artificial polymers with cells or biological tissue (such as intact cardiac trabeculae) with the aim to improve tissue formation in vitro or to support the mechanical function of damaged biological muscles. Such versatility is afforded by chemistry. New customized liquid crystalline monomers are presented here that modulate material properties for different applications. The role of synthetic material composition is highlighted as we demonstrate how using apparently similar molecular formulations, that liquid crystalline polymers can be adapted to different technological and medical challenges.

中文翻译：

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光子人工肌肉：从微型机器人到组织工程。

光响应变形聚合物能够模仿生物肌肉的功能，完成机械工作以响应选定的刺激。可以采用各种制造技术和化学工艺将这些材料塑造成不同的长度尺度，从厘米纤维和薄膜到试图复制生物功能和操作的 3D 打印测微物体。受控变形可以模拟基本的动物操作，如步行、游泳或抓取物体，同时还控制设备的折射率和几何形状，为实现可调光学特性开辟了潜力。另一种可能性是将人造聚合物与细胞或生物组织（如完整的心脏小梁）结合，以改善组织形成体外或支持受损生物肌肉的机械功能。这种多功能性是由化学提供的。这里介绍了新的定制液晶单体，可调节不同应用的材料特性。当我们展示如何使用明显相似的分子配方，液晶聚合物可以适应不同的技术和医学挑战时，合成材料成分的作用得到了强调。