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  • Guided Folding of Nematic Liquid Crystal Elastomer Sheets into 3D via Patterned 1D Microchannels.

Guided Folding of Nematic Liquid Crystal Elastomer Sheets into 3D via Patterned 1D Microchannels.

Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) (2016-10-08)
Yu Xia, Gerardo Cedillo-Servin, Randall D Kamien, Shu Yang
PMID27717070
ABSTRACT

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.