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About

Cheng-Wei Qiu is a leading figure at the intersection of nanophotonics, soft robotics, and advanced materials. His research masterfully harnesses light-matter interactions to create intelligent, reconfigurable systems. Qiu’s most celebrated contribution is the development of "plasmonic-assisted graphene oxide artificial muscles," a breakthrough that integrates light-addressable nodes to mimic the coordinated motion of biological joints and muscles. This work, published in *Advanced Materials* (2018, 204 citations), demonstrates a spider robot capable of complex, multi-degree-of-freedom movement, pushing soft robotics beyond simple actuators. He further pioneered the use of femtosecond lasers to induce localized, self-growing architectures on shape-memory polymers (2018, 77 citations), enabling nature-inspired shape transformations for smart textiles and actuators. Qiu also provides comprehensive reviews on optical micro/nanomanipulation (2022, 61 citations), synthesizing progress on structured forces and particles. His work, often in collaboration with Yong-Lai Zhang and Hong-Bo Sun, is distinguished by its synergistic approach—combining plasmonic nanoparticles with thermally conductive materials to achieve unprecedented control. With a citation count exceeding 200 for his flagship work, Qiu’s research is pivotal for advancing soft robotics, smart materials, and nanoscale manipulation.