Giant flexoelectricity in bent-core nematic liquid crystal elastomers

Recently ferroelectric ceramic and bent-core nematic liquid crystals have demonstrated flexoelectricity (coupling between curvature strains to electric polarization) up to 10(4) times larger than the previous standards. This may allow for usable electromechanical devices. However, ceramics are too rigid to withstand large bending and bent-core nematic fluids must be physically supported-their technological applicability is still limited. In this paper, we show that novel side-chain bent-core nematic elastomers not only produce giant flexoelectricity but are also robust and flexible enough for microscale parasitic power generation. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3358391]