Liquid Crystal Elastomer Actuators from Anisotropic Porous Polymer Template

Controlling self‐assembly behaviors of liquid crystals is a fundamental issue for designing them as intelligent actuators. Here, anisotropic porous polyvinylidene fluoride film is utilized as a template to induce homogeneous alignment of liquid crystals. The mechanism of liquid crystal alignment ind...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Macromolecular rapid communications. 2017-08, Vol.38 (15), p.n/a
Main Authors: Wang, Qian, Yu, Li, Yu, Meina, Zhao, Dongyu, Song, Ping, Chi, Hun, Guo, Lin, Yang, Huai
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Actuation
Actuators
Alignment
Anisotropy
Chemical industry
Crystals
Elastomers
Elastomers - chemical synthesis
Elastomers - chemistry
Fluorides
liquid crystal elastomers
Liquid crystals
Liquid Crystals - chemistry
Photopolymerization
Polymers - chemistry
polyvinylidene fluoride
Polyvinylidene fluorides
Polyvinyls - chemistry
Porosity
porous films
Self-assembly
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Summary:Controlling self‐assembly behaviors of liquid crystals is a fundamental issue for designing them as intelligent actuators. Here, anisotropic porous polyvinylidene fluoride film is utilized as a template to induce homogeneous alignment of liquid crystals. The mechanism of liquid crystal alignment induced by anisotropic porous polyvinylidene fluoride film is illustrated based on the relationship between the alignment behavior of liquid crystals and surface microstructure of anisotropic polyvinylidene fluoride film. Liquid crystal elastomer actuators with fast responsiveness, large strain change, and reversible actuation behaviors are achieved by the photopolymerization of liquid crystal monomer in liquid crystal cells coated with anisotropic porous films. A highly anisotropic porous poly(vinylidene fluoride) polymer film is used as a template to induce homogeneous alignment of liquid crystals and fabricate liquid‐crystal elastomer actuators with fast responsiveness, large strain change, and reversible actuation behaviors.
ISSN:1022-1336
1521-3927
DOI:10.1002/marc.201600699