Programmable liquid crystal elastomer matrix through photomechanical responses

Zhao, Dong; Liu, Ying

doi:10.1002/app.48997

Cited by 7 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 32 publications

(41 reference statements)

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“… – 57 Photomechanical devices have also been shown to move over water, 58 , 59 across terrain, 32 , 60 – 63 and through the air 64 . Photomechanical devices can also be used as components in larger photomechanical systems with both series 65 – 67 and parallel 68 , 69 configurations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Uniaxial photomechanical motion in large diameter polydimethylsiloxane optical fibers with fluoropolymer claddings

Knitter,

Ferreira,

Sheffield

et al. 2024

J. Optical Microsystems

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This study focuses on the photomechanical behavior of step-index optical fibers with a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) core and fluoropolymer claddings. The PDMS hosts dopant graphene nanoplatelets, which are heated when illuminated by visible light. Sample fibers were fabricated by drawing the doped resin into thin fluoropolymer tubing before the resin set. The individual motions of the core and cladding were observed to be coupled, which resulted in a relatively small photomechanical effect. Adding a castor oil lubricant between the core and cladding significantly increased the core's photomechanical strain. The large strain of the lubricated cores exhibited both irreversible and reversible photomechanical motion. Cycling the pump beam resulted in a fully reversible photomechanical piston that can be modeled by a linear response function to the incident pump beam.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Uniaxial photomechanical motion in large diameter polydimethylsiloxane optical fibers with fluoropolymer claddings

Knitter,

Ferreira,

Sheffield

et al. 2024

J. Optical Microsystems

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“…Membrane structures exist widely in living organisms such as gastric mucosa, 1 skin, 2 and certain plant surfaces 3 . Owing to the large deformation and geometrical/material nonlinearity, 4 the flexure control of membrane elements has generated many important applications in flexible electronics, 5 haptic display, 6 materials performance measurement 7 and lithographically induced self‐assembly (LISA) 8 . Along with the development of above‐mentioned areas, precise three dimensional deformation of a membrane driven by external field becomes a hot spot in the material design.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Opto‐regulation for the 2D to 3D transformation of a liquid crystal network membrane

Liu

2022

J of Applied Polymer Sci

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Light loading mode plays essential roles in the deformation morphology of the photosensitive liquid crystal network (LCN) membrane. However, owing to the strong non‐linearity of membrane deformation and the constraint effect of membrane boundary, the precise surface pattern control of a LCN membrane through pre‐designing the light loading pattern have not been fully carried out. In this article, a second light‐engraving strategy is proposed to decouple the local and integral deformation of the LCN membrane, and the accurate opto‐regulation of the 2D to 3D pattern transformation could be realized. Firstly, the opto‐deformation governing equations for the LCN membrane under nonuniform illumination are established, and solved by the finite difference method. The deformation characteristics of the LCN membrane under nonuniform illumination has been discussed, and the relation between the light loading mode and the spontaneous deformation in the LCN membrane is clarified. Then a second‐engraving technology based on the deformed membrane is proposed, and the precise opto‐tuning of the 2D to 3D deformation for a LCN membrane is realized. “Robert face” and three‐dimensional word printing is presented as example. This work provides theoretical and numerical guidance on the LCN membrane based three dimensional modeling technology.

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“…By programmably arranging liquid crystals molecular alignment patterns inner loosely crosslinked polymeric materials, desirable photoisomerization is enabled to induce photomechanical actuation, such as contraction and bending [38][39][40]. Additionally, tailoring the local molecular orientation under photopolymerization fabrication process, isotropic and localized deformations can be artificially realized to give rise to complex shape transformations, such as coiling, buckling, etc [41][42][43][44][45]. However, conventional LCEs/LCPs, even if reversible, typically exhibit a pre-determined state of deformation under the light stimulus.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reconfigurable shape-morphing flexible surfaces realized by individually addressable photoactuator arrays

Dong

Jiang

et al. 2021

Smart Mater. Struct.

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Inspired by the impressive shape reconfigurability in natural systems, stimulus-responsive soft materials have been exploited to enable reconfigurable surface changes, relying on controllable deformations inner soft materials and spatiotemporally varying external stimuli. Among these, light stimulus, due to its high degree of spatial and temporal control manner, has been becoming a particularly powerful actuation means. Especially, photothermal shape transformations induced by bilayered structures, combining light absorption layer and an active layer of hydrogels, SMPs (Shape Memory Polymers), and nanocomposites, have provided a facile reconfigurable scheme. Here, we proposed reconfigurable shape-morphing flexible surfaces with individually addressable photoactuators arrays. By adjusting near-infrared radiation intensity and actuators thickness, the deformations of each actuator can be desirably tuned up to 350 μm. Additionally, actuator arrays can be individually photoactuated one by one due to the remote and straightforward control manner, which give rise to distinct surface morphology. Furthermore, multiple actuators are enabled to demonstrate coupled photomechanical actuation, causing broader area surface reconfigurations. Finally, we tried to explore shape-morphing flexible surfaces applications in a deformable mirror prototype with 19 actuator arrays. Based on photomechanical deformation simulation from COMSOL MultiPhysics, surface change capability was preliminarily researched. We envision that our proposed photoactuated deformable mirror will have a significant impact on the novel design in the future deformable mirrors and metasurfaces.

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Programmable liquid crystal elastomer matrix through photomechanical responses

Cited by 7 publications

References 32 publications

Uniaxial photomechanical motion in large diameter polydimethylsiloxane optical fibers with fluoropolymer claddings

Uniaxial photomechanical motion in large diameter polydimethylsiloxane optical fibers with fluoropolymer claddings

Opto‐regulation for the 2D to 3D transformation of a liquid crystal network membrane

Reconfigurable shape-morphing flexible surfaces realized by individually addressable photoactuator arrays

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