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Liquid-crystal polymers

Exotic actuators

Nature Materials volume 12, pages 12–14 (2013)Cite this article

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Three-dimensional ordering in liquid-crystalline polymers is induced by the photopolymerization of a mixture of mesogens sandwiched between two patterned substrates. By incorporating an infrared-sensitive dye in the mixture, polymer films that undergo reversible shape deformations on heating are formed.

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Figure 1: Schematic representations of the methods used for the alignment of liquid crystals.
Figure 2: The procedure for the preparation of aligned liquid-crystal polymer networks.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Gustavo Fernández is in the Institut für Organische Chemie and Center for Nanosystems Chemistry, Universität Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany,

    Gustavo Fernández

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  1. Gustavo Fernández
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Correspondence to Gustavo Fernández.

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Fernández, G. Exotic actuators. Nature Mater 12, 12–14 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3526

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