Skin-like Actuator

Electronics-free autonomous cooling

A sweat gland-inspired liquid crystal elastomer skin actuator, fabricated by 3D printing, autonomously discharges liquid upon overheating to cool without any electronics.

Zhenhua, He · Jiang, Saihua · Wang, Jianji · Attia, Nour F. · Dai, Kang · Zhou, Gang · Xiao, Shu

Chemical Engineering Journal 2025

Advantages

Maintains surrounding temperature about 10°C below heating temperature

Autonomous response to overheating

Local liquid discharge