Bioinspired Intelligent Nanocomposite Liquid Crystal Materials: From Soft Actuators and Adaptive Camouflage to Transformative Optics.

Biological systems display an uncanny penchant for self-deterministic decisions, patterns, and actions, such as phototropism in plants, adaptive camouflage in living animals, and self-focusing/intelligent vision in arthropod compound eyes. Inspiration from nature and its translation into the design of the next generation of intelligent materials are now in the limelight of research, from fundamental science to technological applications. Liquid crystals (LCs) represent a class of stimuli-responsive soft matter that can serve as a key building block for smart and intelligent material systems. Bridging LC responsiveness with nanoscale functionalities gives rise to intelligent nanocomposite LC materials, which facilitate advanced development in soft robotics, adaptive camouflage, and transformative optics. In this review, we provide a comprehensive review of recent developments of bioinspired intelligent nanocomposite materials with responsive LCs and their promising applications, including reinforced LC elastomer nanocomposites for bioinspired soft actuators with self-sensing functions and built-in self-feedback; bioinspired chiral nanocomposites with responsive LCs for adaptive camouflage, chiral plasmonics, and circularly polarized luminescence; and bioinspired reconfigurable metasurfaces with responsive LCs for ultra-thin adaptive metalenses, dynamic meta-holographic displays, and advanced beam steering devices. This review provides new insights into fostering interdisciplinary advances spanning nanotechnology, optics, mechanics, chemistry, materials science, and device engineering.