ABSTRACT Stimulus‐responsive materials are of great importance in the development of flexible robotics, among which light‐responsive actuators have become a research hotspot due to their advantages of non‐contact stimulation and remotely controllable. However, the traditional light‐responsive actuator has a slow response rate and insufficient mechanical strength and service life, which seriously limits the application range of the material. In this study, a fast light‐driven high‐strength self‐healing actuator was prepared by structural design using 4,4′‐methylenebis (cyclohexyl isocyanate) (HMDI), polycaprolactone diol (PCL‐2000), urethane pyrimidinone (Upy), and α‐cyanostilbene (CS) polymerized the polyurethane elastomer PU‐CS 50 exhibits an excellent phototropic deformation rate (42.5°/s deformation rate). It also has excellent mechanical properties (52.6 MPa tensile strength and 1628% elongation at break) and healing capabilities (89% self‐healing efficiency). This smart material combines fast optical response, excellent mechanical properties, and efficient self‐healing capability, paving the way for the development of fast‐response optically actuated flexible robots.
Ouyang et al. (Tue,) studied this question.