Multifunctional liquid crystal elastomer conductive foams with self-sensing actuation

Traditional intelligent systems often rely on centralized control architectures, which impose significant limitations on miniaturization, power consumption, and adaptability in complex environments. Here, we report multifunctional liquid crystal elastomer conductive foams (LCECFs) in which sensing and actuation are co-located within a lamination-free integrated porous composite. Using a salt-templating strategy combined with electroless silver plating, the LCECFs exhibit a porous lightweight architecture and a high conductivity of 15.76 S/m. The LCECFs demonstrate outstanding piezoresistive sensing performance and enable monitoring various human physiological signals. By leveraging the coupling between the photothermal effect of the surface-deposited silver nanoparticles and the thermally actuated LCE matrix, we demonstrate an NIR-driven sensorized walker that achieves controllable unidirectional locomotion with resistance-based actuation-state monitoring. Furthermore, the LCECFs function as an efficient Joule heater, enabling rapid de-icing (42 s at 0.3 A) to overcome the application limitations in extreme cold environments. This work offers new insights for designing flexible robots and wearable electronic devices with self-monitoring capabilities. It establishes an integrated design strategy for developing flexible systems with integrated signal transduction that do not require complex external circuitry.