Slippery liquid-infused porous surfaces for high-performance moisture-responsive actuators

Smart actuators convert environmental changes into mechanical energy. However, the actuation performance and robustness of smart actuators are limited by the weak interlaminar force and poor adhesion between layers. Herein, we report moisture-responsive actuators integrated with slippery liquid-infused porous surfaces (SLIPSs). The difference in adsorption capacity of water molecules further increases because the SLIPS layer is isolated from air by the lubricating oil film. Compared with the initial (graphene oxide/candle soot, GO/CS) bilayer film, the integrated SLIPS layer improved the bending performance by 12.6% and shortened the response–recovery time by one-third. Moreover, the GO/SLIPS actuator exhibited excellent long-term stability over 10 000 cycles due to the lubricating oil's capillary fluidity. In addition, a moisture-controlled water-transport device based on a GO/SLIPS film was demonstrated.