Photocontrol of helix handedness in curled liquid crystal elastomers

ABSTRACT

In this manuscript, we describe a photo-responsive dual-layer polysiloxane-based liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) soft actuator with switchable handedness of helical curling motions. Benefited from the embedded organic near-infrared (NIR) absorbing dye, the LCE ribbon can perform an impressive one-handed helical curling deformation under NIR light irradiation, meanwhile execute another-handed helical curling deformation under ultraviolet (UV) light irradiation due to the trans-cis isomerisation effect of azobenzene. This work demonstrates that the handedness of helical curling motions of LCE soft actuators can be reversibly altered by modulating the wavelength band of light stimuli (UV vs. NIR), which might have potential applications in control devices.

Graphical Abstract

KEYWORDS:

• Liquid crystal elastomer
• chirality
• azobenzene
• near-infrared absorbing dye
• soft actuator

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary material

Supplementary data for this article can be accessed here.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by Jiangsu Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China [No. BK20170024, BK20180406], the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [No. 2242017K3DN12, 2242018K40048], the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions and the Open Research Fund of State Key Laboratory of Bioelectronics, Southeast University; Natural Science Foun-dation of Jiangsu Province [BK20170024,BK20180406].