Table 2 A summary of the characteristics of mechanical metamaterials beyond mechanical properties and their main functionalities
Programmability | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Functionality beyond mechanical properties | ||||
Energy harvesting and sensing | Soft robotics | Scientific computation | Integrated system | |
Actuation | • Tactile sensors5 • magnetic-based transduction method5 • Multiple sensitivity regimes5 • High design degrees of freedom5 | • Programmable actuation of metastructures103 • Artificial muscle103 • Temperature-dependent switching and information encryption103 | • A tileable mechanical metamaterial with stable memory at the unit-cell level128 • Magnetic actuation128 • Reprogrammability128 | • Origami-inspired 3D programmable metamaterials79 • Actuating of unit cells79 • Deployable space structures79 • SMP-hydrogel stent to deliver drugs131 |
Responsiveness | • Easy-to-manufacture soft tactile sensor5 • 3D printing5 • Multiple desired sensitivities5 | • Electro-responsive active metamaterials (e.g., SMPs, SMAs, dielectric elastomers of electroactive polymers, etc.)131 • Magneto-responsive active metamaterials131 • Light-responsive active metamaterials131 | • A bi-stable logic-gate elastic metamaterial22 • Wave logic operations22 • Active regulation without continuous-consuming energy22 | • Dynamic smart shape transformation32 • Thermal or photothermal trigger32 • Mechanical actuators32 |
Adaptability | • Multi-layer structure; Multiple perfect absorption bands180 • Solar energy harvesting180 | • Reconfigurable structures composed of multistable unit cells139 • 2D graded structures exhibiting serpentine motion139 | • Cellular mechanical metamaterials composed of conductive polymers181 • Digital logic gates and gate assemblies181 | • Adaptive mechanical properties181 • 4D printing181 • LED integrated device181 • Biomedical scaffold181 |
Autonomy | • Molecular self-assembly of block copolymers (BCPs)182 | • Origami-inspired structures80 • Mechanical self-folding technique80 • Microrobots80 | • Reprogrammable mechanological metamaterials129 • Electromagnetic excitation129 • Mechanical systems with embedded intelligence129 | • Mechanical adjustable medical stent183 • Radial expansion ability enhancing183 |
Responsiveness | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Applications beyond mechanical properties | ||||
Energy harvesting and sensing | Soft robotics | Scientific computation | Integrated system | |
Magnetic | • Multistable mechanical metamaterials composed of multiple magnets systems65 • Energy trapping65 | • Cilia-inspired soft robots144 • Programmable magnetization patterns144 • Magnetic actuation144 • Magneto-mechanical metamaterials135 • Shape and property tunability135 • Coupled magneto-mechanical actuation135 | • A tileable mechanical metamaterial with stable memory at the unit-cell level128 • Magnetic actuation128 • Reprogrammability128 | • Cellular metamaterials184 • Magneto-elastic coupling184 • Omni-directional, multi-modal energy absorption in a low-density, tunable, and re-usable platform184 • Magnetic field responsive mechanical metamaterials185 • Dynamic control and on-the-fly tunability185 |
Electrical | • Kirigami/origami structures59,61 • Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENG)59,61 • Self-aware composite mechanical metamaterials12 • Self-powering and self-sensing blood vessel stents and shock absorbers12 | • Electro-responsive active metamaterials (e.g., SMPs, SMAs, dielectric elastomers of electroactive polymers, etc.)131 • Robot fabric131 • Micrometer-scale origami quadruped robot131 • Metamaterial enabled high-speed micro-robot with self-sensing186 | • Conductive polymers23 • Digital logic gates and gate assemblies23 | • Frequency coding metamaterials121 • Electromagnetic energy radiations control121 • Lamellar ferroelectric metamaterials68 • Excellent printability68 • High piezoelectric behaviors68 • Smart biological systems68 • Triboelectric nanogenerator-enabled structural elements60 • Civil infrastructure monitoring systems60 |
Thermal | • Broadband thermal energy extraction187 • Hyperbolic metamaterials187 • High near-field thermal energy transfer rate187 | • Self-triggered thermomechanical metamaterials15 • Temperature-induced microgrippers15 • Temperature-responsive multistable metamaterials15 • Autonomous actuation and adaptation to the environment15 | • Chemical logic gates188 • Standalone systems to analyze different stimuli188 | • Thermomechanically triggered two-stage pattern switching of 2D lattices189 |
Light-driven | • Thermophotovoltaics energy conversion107 • Frequency-selective surface107 • Metamaterial emitters107 • Broadband and omnidirectional hot electron photodetectors190 • Metamaterial perfect absorbers190 | • Light-responsive film actuators131 • 2D-to-3D structural transformations131 • Bionic micro-robots131 | • Photonic computing191 • Photo-responsive supramolecular polymers192 | • Frequency reconfigurable and programmable antennas131 • Five more different working modes and programmable frequency reconstruction191 • Light-driven soft actuators192 • Light-triggered electronic devices192 |