On September 18th, Pengrong Lyu successfully defended his PhD thesis, titled “Engineering Soft Matter into Functional Architectures: Liquid Crystal Polymers Towards Device Integration.”
The thesis explores how 3D/4D printing of liquid crystal polymer (LCP) inks can be used to create soft electronic systems that integrate sensing, actuation, and memory within a single material platform. Using direct-ink-writing of programmable LCP architectures, Pengrong demonstrates an octopus-inspired soft robotic arm with a 4D-printed suction-cup gripper that generates negative pressure through shape change, enabling gentle 3D pick-and-place operations without external pneumatics. He further develops adaptive LCP electronic units based on a switchable micro-conductive gap (“active aperture”), which can be arranged into feedback-controlled networks capable of autonomous sense–decide–act behavior and signal propagation in cascades. Finally, by incorporating light-responsive molecular switches, he realizes trainable LCP devices with built-in memory, including a self-propelled gate for binary classification tasks and a gesture-mimicking system that learns to reproduce Chinese number gestures.
After graduation, he plans to return to his undergraduate university to continue research in 3D/4D printing and its applications in soft robotics and intelligent materials.
