3D‐Printable Near‐Infrared‐Responsive Microscale Cantilever made of the Composite Consisting of Ceramic Particles and Graphene Flakes

In this article, a near infrared (NIR)‐responsive microscale cantilever made of the novel 3D printable composite based on the ceramic sepiolite and graphene flakes is presented. The developed composite benefits from no necessity to use complex and high‐energy processes and absorbs NIR light and followed by mechanical work, which results in shape transformations of the cantilever. With the irradiation of 1064 nm wavelength, the composite cantilever exhibits the displacement of average—1.3 ± 0.18 mm—with the fast photothermal responsiveness as the laser beam is ON–OFF within 1.7 s. The displacement measurements is based on the video recording using a monochrome camera. Additional to the actuation performance, the material characteristics are presented for the composite and its ingredients including the scanning electron microscope energy dispersive using X­ray analysis, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller, thermogravimetric analysis, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis confirming that the addition of the graphene flakes and the ceramic particles to the resin does not change functional groups.