Bioinspired Synergistic Photochromic Luminescence and Programmable Liquid Crystal Actuators.

Bioinspired smart materials with synergistic allochroic luminescence and complex deformation are expected to play an important role in many areas of science and technology. However, it is still challenging to fabricate such soft actuators with high programmability, which can be manipulated in-situ with high spatial resolution. Herein, we have incorporated terminally functionalized aggregation-induced emission active tetraphenylethene derivative and photochromic spiropyran moieties into the networks of liquid crystal elastomers through covalent bonding to obtain the synergistic photochromic luminescence and programmable soft actuators. Bio-mimic functions and auxetic metamaterial-like devices were demonstrated feasible based on the combination of assembly and origami-programming strategy. These bioinspired devices with synergistic photochromic luminescence and complex photodeformation abilities could provide an elegant strategy for designing multi-functional liquid crystal actuators that could find potential applications in biomimetic soft robotics, camouflage devices, metamaterials, and beyond.