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Guided Folding of Nematic Liquid Crystal Elastomer Sheets into 3D via Patterned 1D Microchannels
Yu Xia1, Gerardo Cedillo-Servin1, Randall D Kamien2
1Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, 3231 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA.
Advanced Materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.)
|October 8, 2016
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.
