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Guided Folding of Nematic Liquid Crystal Elastomer Sheets into 3D via Patterned 1D Microchannels
Author(s) -
Xia Yu,
CedilloServin Gerardo,
Kamien Randall D.,
Yang Shu
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
advanced materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 10.707
H-Index - 527
eISSN - 1521-4095
pISSN - 0935-9648
DOI - 10.1002/adma.201603751
Subject(s) - liquid crystal , materials science , elastomer , photopolymer , lift (data mining) , monomer , epoxy , nanotechnology , folding (dsp implementation) , actuator , composite material , mechanical engineering , polymer , computer science , optoelectronics , artificial intelligence , engineering , data mining
Two‐dimensional liquid‐crystal elastomer (LCE) sheets with preprogrammed topological defects are prepared by aligning liquid‐crystal monomers within micropatterned epoxy channels, followed by photopolymerization. Upon heating, the LCE films form various three‐dimensional structures in agreement with theoretical design. The miniaturized LCE actuators offer large‐area work capacities (≈1.05 J m –2 ) to lift over 700 times their own weight.