Nematic elastomers with aligned carbon nanotubes: New electromechanical actuators

We demonstrate, for the first time, the large electromechanical response in nematic liquid-crystalline elastomers filled with a very low (similar to 0.01%) concentration of carbon nanotubes, aligned along the nematic director at preparation. The nanotubes create a very large effective dielectric anisotropy of the composite. Their local field-induced torque is transmitted to the rubber elastic network and is registered as the exerted uniaxial stress of order similar to 1 kPa in response to a constant field of order similar to 1 MV/m. We investigate the dependence of the effect on field strength, nanotube concentration and reproducibility under multiple field-on and -off cycles. The results indicate the potential of the nanotube-nematic elastomer composites as electrically driven actuators.