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

Yu Xia; Gerardo Cedillo-Servin; Randall D Kamien; Shu Yang

doi:10.1002/adma.201603751

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

Adv Mater. 2016 Nov;28(43):9637-9643. doi: 10.1002/adma.201603751. Epub 2016 Sep 15.

Authors

Yu Xia¹, Gerardo Cedillo-Servin¹, Randall D Kamien², Shu Yang¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, 3231 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA.
² Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, 209 South 33rd St, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA.

PMID: 27717070
DOI: 10.1002/adma.201603751

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.

Keywords: guided folding; micro-channels; nematic liquid crystal elastomers; patterning topological defects; templating.