Dual-3D Femtosecond Laser Nanofabrication Enables Dynamic Actuation.

Strategies that can make general materials smart are highly desired for developing artificial shape-morphing systems and devices. However, at present, it still lacks universal technologies that enable designable prototyping of deformable 3D micronanostructures. Inspired by natural automation systems, for instance, tendrils, leaves and flowers deform dynamically under external stimuli by varying internal turgor, we report a dual-3D femtosecond laser processing strategy for fabricating smart and deformable 3D micro-actuators based on general photopolymers. By programming the size and distributions of voxels at the nanoscale, both the 3D profile and the 3D inter-network of a general photopolymer could be tailored in a controlled manner; thus, 3D microstructures encoded with precisely tailored networks could perform predictable deformations under certain stimuli. Using this dual-3D fabrication approach, energetic 3D micro-actuators, including a smart micro-flower, a responsive micro-vale and an eight-finger micro-claw, that permit controllable manipulation have been successfully developed.