Tailoring Low-Temperature-Driven Weldable Thermoplastic Liquid Crystal Elastomers for Perceptive Grippers

Thermoplastic liquid crystal elastomers (TPLCEs) offer promising advantages as soft actuators due to their dynamic responsiveness and melt-processability. However, precisely tailoring their actuation properties and processing windows remains a key challenge for the next generation of actuators. Here, a series of TPLCEs is prepared based on hydrogen-bonded segmented polythiourethanes enabling tuning of the nematic–isotropic transition temperature ( T NI ) for actuation and the melting point ( T m ) for processing. By varying mesogenic monomer content in soft segments and thiol chain extender in hard segments, six polymers are synthesized with adjustable T m for processing and reversible actuation around room temperature. Next, a dual-active bilayer perceptive gripper is fabricated by welding two TPLCE actuators with distinct programmed T NI that senses the temperature of the object, allowing gripping based on thermal feedback. Our work provides a strategy to tailor actuation and processing windows in TPLCEs, paving the way for programmable, next-generation soft actuators with sensing capabilities.