ArticleNature materials2024
Light-steerable locomotion using zero-elastic-energy modes.
Article in Nature materials, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers.
What it found
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed.
- Azobenzene's Cross-Scale Optics and Photonics: Molecular Photoswitching, Mesoscopic Material Motions, and Adaptive Devices.Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) · 2026Review
- A kirigami-inspired soft gripper based on liquid crystal elastomer integrated with strain sensing.iScience · 2026Article
- Reconfiguring handed shape-morphing and actuation in hydrogels via light-encoded rapid expansion.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Microrobots for Precision Diagnosis and Treatment in the Digestive System: A Review of Actuation Mechanisms, Structural Design, Preclinical and Translational Applications.Micromachines · 2026Review
- Self-regulated optomechanics achieves ultrabroadband and high-efficiency all-optical devices.Innovation (Cambridge (Mass.)) · 2026Article
- Decoupling Photochemical and Photothermal Effects Using Molecular Motors Enables Fast, Intelligent, and Life-Like Motions in Soft Materials.Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) · 2026Article
- Trainable soft electronics with memory in liquid crystal polymers.Science advances · 2026Article
- Single-parameter programmed thermomechanical actuation via 3D-printed helical director fields in liquid crystal elastomers.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Enhancing soft robots with chemical shielding for harsh corrosive liquid environments.Materials horizons · 2026Article
- Holographic Whole-Object Photopolymerization Preserving Director Alignment in Liquid Crystalline Actuators.Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) · 2026Article
- Article
- Continuous fabrication of Janus liquid crystal elastomer fibers with programmable actuation.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Self-regulating and self-oscillating metal-organic framework hybrid plasmonic metasurfaces.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Supramolecular Chalcogen-Bonded Shape Memory Actuators.Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English) · 2025Article
- Welding complex-shaped actuators from dynamic liquid crystal elastomers.Journal of materials chemistry. C · 2025Article
- Emergent Locomotion in Self-Sustained, Mechanically Connected Soft Matter Rings.Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) · 2025Article
- Article
- A light-fueled self-oscillator that senses force.Communications materials · 2025Article
- Architectured soft materials as autonomous microrobots.Nature materials · 2024Article
- Strain by metal nitrides accelerates oxygen reduction.Nature materials · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Driving synthetic materials out of equilibrium via dissipative mechanisms paves the way towards autonomous, self-sustained robotic motions. However, obtaining agile movement in diverse environments with dynamic steerability remains a challenge. Here we report a light-fuelled soft liquid crystal elastomer torus with self-sustained out-of-equilibrium movement. Under constant light excitation, the torus undergoes spontaneous rotation arising from the formation of zero-elastic-energy modes. By exploiting dynamic friction or drag, the zero-elastic-energy-mode-based locomotion direction can be optically controlled in various dry and fluid environments. We demonstrate the ability of the liquid crystal elastomer torus to laterally and vertically swim in the Stokes regime. The torus navigation can be extended to three-dimensional space with full steerability of the swimming direction. These results demonstrate the possibilities enabled by prestrained topological structures towards robotic functions of out-of-equilibrium soft matter.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.