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Page 20 of 26 Xiao et al. Soft Sci 2023;3:11 https://dx.doi.org/10.20517/ss.2023.03

nematic-isotropic transition temperature, and a smaller temperature difference provides a smaller actuation
stress of LCEs, limiting their applications in a mild environment like human body temperature
(~37 °C). Additionally, the actuation speed requires further improvements to be suited for applications
that require fast responses. The heating/cooling time of the thermally or optically driven LCEs is quite
long because of the low efficiency of heat transferring. The response time can be further improved by
[117]
reducing the LCE dimensions because smaller and thinner LCEs offer faster actuation deformations.
Furthermore, to accelerate the cooling time, some available solutions were provided in our revised
manuscript, such as embedding LM droplets, doping CB nanoparticles, and integrating microfluidic
channels to pump cold fluids .
[47]

LCE-based 3D architected materials represent an underexplored area due to the challenges in the
fabrication. Most existing LCE-based devices are initially strips or films before the alignment. It is clear that
3D architected actuators can offer more deforming modes and versatile shape-morphing capabilities than
planar actuators. However, it remains challenging to fabricate highly curvy 3D LCE architectures, such as
the chiral or helical networks, or other 3D-shaped structures .
[155]
[157]
[156]
DECLARATIONS
Acknowledgments
Y.Z. acknowledges the support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant Nos.
12225206, 12050004, and 11921002), the Tsinghua National Laboratory for Information Science and
Technology, the Henry Fok Education Foundation (grant No. 171003), a grant from the Institute for Guo
Qiang, Tsinghua University (grant No. 2021GQG1009), and the XPLORER PRIZE from the Tencent
Foundation.

Authors’ contributions
Conceptualization, investigation, wrote the original draft: Xiao Y, Wu J
Reviewed and revised the manuscript: Zhang Y
Supervision, project administration, funding acquisition: Zhang Y

Availability of data and materials
Not applicable.

Financial support and sponsorship
Y.Z. acknowledges the support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant Nos.
12225206, 12050004, and 11921002), the Tsinghua National Laboratory for Information Science and
Technology, the Henry Fok Education Foundation (grant No. 171003), a grant from the Institute for Guo
Qiang, Tsinghua University (grant No. 2021GQG1009), and the XPLORER PRIZE from the Tencent
Foundation.

Conflicts of interest
All authors declared that there are no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval and consent to participate
Not applicable.

Consent for publication
Not applicable.