Photomotility of quasi-twisted nematic liquid crystal soft robots
발표자
()
초록
내용
Liquid crystal soft robots have been demonstrated autonomous motility on exposure to light irradiation. This remote control capability of untethered soft robotic systems are attractive to avoid on-board weight penalty in battery-powered systems or entanglement of connection lines with external power sources in tethered systems. Previous study on photomotility of azobenzene-functionalized liquid crystal polymers networks (azo-LCNs) employed twisted nematic geometry where nematic director rotates 90° from top to bottom of the azo-LCN film. In this study, we discuss effects of oblique angled quasi-twisted nematic (q-TN) molecular alignments on photomotility of the azo-LCNs with emphasis on geometry and velocity of the light-fueled soft robots.