Smart Muscle-Driven Self-Cleaning of Biomimetic Microstructures from Liquid Crystal Elastomers

Muscle‐driven actuation of biomimetic microfibrillar structures is achieved using integrative soft‐lithography on a backing splayed liquid‐crystal elastomer (LCE). Variation in the backing LCE layer thickness yields different modes of thermal deformation from a pure bend to a twist‐bend. Muscular motion and dynamic self‐cleaning of gecko toe pads are mimicked via this mechanism.