Vulcanized Layered Double Hydroxide Nanosheet Composite Hydrogels as Efficient Near-Infrared Light-Fueled Soft Actuators

Light-fueled photothermal actuators play a significant role in spatiotemporal accurate and contactless control, and they have been widely applied in stimuli-responsive intelligent devices. However, traditional photothermal actuators suffer from environmental thermal dissipation, which reduces their efficiency in low-temperature conditions. To address this shortcoming, vulcanized layered double hydroxide nanosheets with photothermal efficiency of 86.1% and outstanding hydrophilicity were incorporated into poly( N -isopropylacrylamide) hydrogel networks to fabricate highly efficient near-infrared light-fueled soft actuators. The generated composite hydrogels exhibit excellent actuation performances in a 0 °C environment, thus demonstrating their enhanced robustness at low temperatures. Moreover, a light-controlled valve and bendable bilayer hydrogel actuator were produced, which demonstrated fast and reversible responses in water via photothermal contraction and expansion control. This work therefore significantly broadens the application prospects of hydrogel-based intelligent materials in remote light-controlled devices.