Journal
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
Volume 7, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/ncomms13260
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- Air Force Research Laboratory
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Light is distinguished as a contactless energy source for microscale devices as it can be directed from remote distances, rapidly turned on or off, spatially modulated across length scales, polarized, or varied in intensity. Motivated in part by these nascent properties of light, transducing photonic stimuli into macroscopic deformation of materials systems has been examined in the last half-century. Here we report photoinduced motion (photomotility) in monolithic polymer films prepared from azobenzene-functionalized liquid crystalline polymer networks (azo-LCNs). Leveraging the twisted-nematic orientation, irradiation with broad spectrum ultraviolet-visible light (320-500 nm) transforms the films from flat sheets to spiral ribbons, which subsequently translate large distances with continuous irradiation on an arbitrary surface. The motion results from a complex interplay of photochemistry and mechanics. We demonstrate directional control, as well as climbing.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available