Journal
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
Volume 8, Issue 14, Pages 9440-9445Publisher
AMER CHEMICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.6b01033
Keywords
opal photonic crystal; liquid crystal elastomer; thermoresponsive photonic actuator; photonic band gap; bending deformation
Funding
- National Natural Science Foundation [51573012, 51373013, 51173013]
- Beijing Young Talents Plan [YETP0489]
- BUCT Fund for Disciplines Construction and Development [XK1509]
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We have developed a novel thermoresponsive photonic actuator based on three-dimensional SiO2 opal photonic crystals (PCs) together with liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs). In the process of fabrication of such a photonic actuator, the LCE precursor is infiltrated into the SiO2 opal PC followed by UV light-induced photopolymerization, thereby forming the SiO2 opal PC/LCE composite film with a bilayer structure. We find that this bilayer composite film simultaneously exhibits actuation behavior as well as the photonic band gap (PBG) response to external temperature variation. When the SiO2 opal PC/LCE composite film is heated, it exhibits a considerable bending deformation, and its PBG shifts to a shorter wavelength at the same time. In addition, this actuation is quite fast, reversible, and highly repeatable. The thermoresponsive behavior of the SiO2 opal PC/LCE composite films mainly derives from the thermal-driven change of nematic order of the LCE layer which leads to the asymmetric shrinkage/expansion of the bilayer structure. These results will be of interest in designing optical actuator systems for environment-temperature detection.
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