A liquid crystal polymer based single layer chemo-responsive actuator.

Dual-responsive, shape-switching bilayers enabled by liquid crystal elastomers.

Materials that change shape are attractive candidates to replace traditional actuators for applications with power or size restrictions. In this work, we design a polymeric bilayer that changes shape in response to both heat and water by the incorporation of a water-responsive hydrophilic polymer with a heat-responsive liquid crystal elastomer. The distinct shape changes based on stimulus are c...

A Polymer-Stabilized Single-Layer Color Cholesteric Liquid Crystal Display with Anisotropic Reflection

Modeling out-of-plane actuation in thin-film nematic polymer networks: From chiral ribbons to auto-origami boxes via twist and topology

Various experimental and theoretical studies demonstrate that complex stimulus-responsive out-of-plane distortions such as twist of different chirality, emergence of cones, simple and anticlastic bending can be engineered and pre-programmed in a liquid crystalline rubbery material given a well-controlled director microstructure. Via 3-d finite element simulation studies, we demonstrate director...

Effect of polymer structures on electro-optical properties of polymer stabilized liquid crystal films

The polymer stabilized liquid crystal (PSLC) film is a relatively novel electro-optical material, which is generally obtained by dissolving a small amount of a bifunctional photoreactive monomer in a low molecular mass liquid crystal. In this paper, the PSLC films were prepared with photoreactive biphenyl methacrylate monomers by photopolymerization induced phase separation. The effects of liqu...

The Fully Plastic Actuators Based on Cnt/pvdf-ctfe Composites with Corrugated Surfaces

The fully plastic ionic polymer actuators based on Poly (vinylidenefluoridetrifluoroethylenechlorotrifluoroethylene) PVDF-CTFE polymer were investigated. The actuator consists of a high conductive electrolyte layer containing EMI-TF ionic liquid sandwiched between two CNT/polymer electrodes. To reduce the modulus of the CNT electrodes and hence enhance the actuation performance of the actuator,...