Azophenol-based liquid-crystalline elastomers for light-driven actuators
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Updated: Jun 3, 2026

Microfluidic Preparation of Liquid Crystalline Elastomer Actuators
Published on: May 20, 2018
Jaume Garcia-Amorós1, Alexandra Piñol, Heino Finkelmann
1Grup de Materials Orgànics, Institut de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia, Departament de Química Orgànica, Universitat de Barcelona , Martí i Franqués 1-11, E-08028, Barcelona, Spain.
Abstract:
Para-substituted azophenols exhibit a fast thermal cis-to-trans isomerization rate in ethanol, which can be transferred to the solid state by obtaining liquid-crystalline elastomeric systems. The absence of protic solvent is compensated by the establishment of hydrogen bonding between azophenol monomers that are close to each other. Opto-mechanical experiments reveal that azophenol-containing liquid single-crystal elastomers are valuable materials for light-controlled actuators exhibiting relaxation times of 1 s at room temperature.
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