Fig. 5: Co-stimulation of PULM15 DEA.

a Representative area strains of PULM15 DEAs driven by electric field (E field) and NIR light. b Digital images of top and side views of PULM15 DEA in the (i) original state (ii) solely driven by electric field, and (iii) simultaneously driven by electric field and NIR light. Dotted lines indicate the height of out-of-plane displacements during actuation. Δh represents the change in height between the original and co-stimulated state. c Cyclic actuation of PULM15 DEA being simultaneously driven by electric field and NIR light at 0.1 Hz. Inset shows the drifted area strains after 15 cycles as a function of NIR light intensity. d Ashby chart summarizing the area strains vs electric fields of DEAs that utilize fillers. e Representative bending angles of PULM15 DEMES individually driven by electric field and simultaneously driven by electric fields and NIR light intensity of 0.2 W cm⁻². Dotted line represents expected additive effects based on the addition of bending angles when driven by electric field and NIR light individually. f Representative blocking force of PULM15 DEMES g Blocking force output of PULM15 DEMES when activated solely by an electric field of 45 V μm⁻¹ (blue) or NIR light intensity of 0.2 W cm⁻² (red), and when co-stimulated by both electric field and NIR light (green). h. Blocking force output of PULM15 DEMES when activated solely by an electric field of 35 V μm⁻¹ (blue) or NIR light intensity of 0.4 W cm⁻² (red), and when co-stimulated by both electric field and NIR light (green). i Specific energy density of PULM15 DEMES under co-stimulation at various electric fields and NIR light power intensities. All error bars are the standard deviation of three independent samples.