Hierarchically Microstructured Dielectric Liquid Crystal Colloid Elastomers with Low‐Voltage Actuation and Programmable Deformation

Abstract Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) are outstanding electro‐mechanical soft transducers for artificial muscles and robotics, owing to their favorable combination of high‐speed, large stroke, and high energy density. However, their applicability for practical engineering applications has been severely overshadowed by three issues of high driving electric fields (20–200 V µm −1 ), rigid supporting frames, and single‐mode deformation. Here, a novel engineering platform that leverages liquid‐crystal‐colloidal self‐assembly to create dielectric liquid crystal colloid elastomers (DLCCEs) with hierarchically honeycomb‐cell‐like microstructures is presented, which can overcome the above‐mentioned issues. The hierarchically honeycomb‐cell‐like microstructures within DLCCEs can function as internal barrier layer capacitors, effectively enhancing the dielectric constant (16.12 at 1 kHz). DLCCE actuators (DLCCEAs) demonstrate low actuation threshold of electric field (≈0.6 V µm −1 ), fast actuation (≈0.07 s), and recovery (≈0.05 s) response, broad bandwidth of driving frequency (0.1–200 Hz), multimodal deformations (e.g., directional bending, chiral twisting, helical deformations) and in‐situ reconfigurable shape morphing, which are largely inaccessible to previously reported DEAs. The unconventional engineering platform, based on the self‐assembly of liquid crystal colloids, enables the hierarchical construction of micro‐structured composite DEAs, which offer new opportunities for developing advanced electro‐driven soft‐matter robotics.