Direct-Ink Written Shape-Morphing Film with Rapid and Programmable Multimotion

Abstract

Shape-morphing structures are appealing in the material community to inspire a myriad of applications across domains, including soft robots, tissue engineering, and consumer products. However, it is a challenge to create fast response/recovery actuators with complicated and robust deformation due to the slow diffusion speed of water in hydrogel and small modulus of hydrogel. Herein, a facile strategy is proposed to fabricate a versatile patterned film configuration using chitin and poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS). The direct-ink writing (DIW) technique is leveraged to build simple, flat, patterned films, which can be morphed into complicated multidimensional architectures. Additionally, computational simulations are conducted to predict the deformation behaviors of the actuator. The sequential response structure can be precisely manipulated by the actuation speed of different structures. Moreover, an assembling method is proposed to create multifunction actuators.