Journal
ADVANCED MATERIALS
Volume 32, Issue 46, Pages -Publisher
WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH
DOI: 10.1002/adma.202004270
Keywords
actuation; gold nanorods; liquid crystal elastomers; photothermal effect; shape morphing
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Funding
- National Science Foundation (NSF) through the INSPIRE grant [IOS-1343159, CMMI-1635026]
- NSF/Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) at University of Pennsylvania [DMR-1720530]
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Liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) are of interest for applications such as soft robotics and shape-morphing devices. Among the different actuation mechanisms, light offers advantages such as spatial and local control of actuation via the photothermal effect. However, the unwanted aggregation of the light-absorbing nanoparticles in the LCE matrix will limit the photothermal response speed, actuation performance, and repeatability. Herein, a near-infrared-responsive LCE composite consisting of up to 0.20 wt% poly(ethylene glycol)-modified gold nanorods (AuNRs) without apparent aggregation is demonstrated. The high Young's modulus, 20.3 MPa, and excellent photothermal performance render repeated and fast actuation of the films (actuation within 5 s and recovery in 2 s) when exposed to 800 nm light at an average output power of approximate to 1.0 W cm(-2), while maintaining a large actuation strain (56%). Further, it is shown that the same sheet of AuNR/LCE film (100 mu m thick) can be morphed into different shapes simply by varying the motifs of the photomasks.
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