Photoresponsive and Reconfigurable Liquid Crystal Elastomer Actuators with Dynamic Crosslinker
발표자
()
초록
내용
Herein, we present a new class of azobenzene-functionalized liquid crystal elastomers (azo-LCEs) incorporating poly(ether-thiourea) as dynamic crosslinker. Unlike conventional LCEs, the thiourea bonds in our azo-LCEs undergo dissociation at elevated temperature, which allows for the recycling the material and reprogramming of the permanent shape through mechanical alignment. The photo-induced bending and unbending of the uniaxially aligned azo-LCE film driven by the photoisomerization of azobenzene moieties was also demonstrated by irradiating UV and visible light, respectively. Most interestingly, the hybrid LCE elastomers comprising alternating segments of thermoresponsive LCE and photoresponsive LCE were successfully prepared by thermal welding enables various types of programmed actuation as well as untethered soft robotic functions upon light exposure.