Alignment engineering in liquid crystalline elastomers: Free-form microstructures with multiple functionalities

Hao Zeng; Piotr Wasylczyk; Giacomo Cerretti; Daniele Martella; Camilla Parmeggiani; Diederik S. Wiersma

doi:10.1063/1.4915268

Alignment engineering in liquid crystalline elastomers: Free-form microstructures with multiple functionalities

Hao Zeng, Piotr Wasylczyk, Giacomo Cerretti, Daniele Martella, Camilla Parmeggiani, Diederik S. Wiersma

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review

70 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We report a method to fabricate polymer microstructures with local control over the molecular orientation. Alignment control is achieved on molecular level in a structure of arbitrary form that can be from 1 to 100 mu m in size, by fixing the local boundary conditions with micro-grating patterns. The method makes use of two-photon polymerization (Direct Laser Writing) and is demonstrated specifically in liquid-crystalline elastomers. This concept allows for the realization of free-form polymeric structures with multiple functionalities which are not possible to realize with existing techniques and which can be locally controlled by light in the micrometer scale. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.

Original language	English
Article number	111902
Number of pages	4
Journal	Applied Physics Letters
Volume	106
Issue number	11
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4915268
Publication status	Published - 16 Mar 2015
Publication type	A1 Journal article-refereed

Keywords

RESPONSIVE POLYMERS
NEMATIC ELASTOMER
DRIVEN
ACTUATORS
LIGHT
FABRICATION
MEMORY
GELS

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10.1063/1.4915268

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abstract = "We report a method to fabricate polymer microstructures with local control over the molecular orientation. Alignment control is achieved on molecular level in a structure of arbitrary form that can be from 1 to 100 mu m in size, by fixing the local boundary conditions with micro-grating patterns. The method makes use of two-photon polymerization (Direct Laser Writing) and is demonstrated specifically in liquid-crystalline elastomers. This concept allows for the realization of free-form polymeric structures with multiple functionalities which are not possible to realize with existing techniques and which can be locally controlled by light in the micrometer scale. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.",

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T1 - Alignment engineering in liquid crystalline elastomers

T2 - Free-form microstructures with multiple functionalities

AU - Zeng, Hao

AU - Wasylczyk, Piotr

AU - Cerretti, Giacomo

AU - Martella, Daniele

AU - Parmeggiani, Camilla

AU - Wiersma, Diederik S.

PY - 2015/3/16

Y1 - 2015/3/16

N2 - We report a method to fabricate polymer microstructures with local control over the molecular orientation. Alignment control is achieved on molecular level in a structure of arbitrary form that can be from 1 to 100 mu m in size, by fixing the local boundary conditions with micro-grating patterns. The method makes use of two-photon polymerization (Direct Laser Writing) and is demonstrated specifically in liquid-crystalline elastomers. This concept allows for the realization of free-form polymeric structures with multiple functionalities which are not possible to realize with existing techniques and which can be locally controlled by light in the micrometer scale. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.

AB - We report a method to fabricate polymer microstructures with local control over the molecular orientation. Alignment control is achieved on molecular level in a structure of arbitrary form that can be from 1 to 100 mu m in size, by fixing the local boundary conditions with micro-grating patterns. The method makes use of two-photon polymerization (Direct Laser Writing) and is demonstrated specifically in liquid-crystalline elastomers. This concept allows for the realization of free-form polymeric structures with multiple functionalities which are not possible to realize with existing techniques and which can be locally controlled by light in the micrometer scale. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.

KW - RESPONSIVE POLYMERS

KW - NEMATIC ELASTOMER

KW - DRIVEN

KW - ACTUATORS

KW - LIGHT

KW - FABRICATION

KW - MEMORY

KW - GELS

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DO - 10.1063/1.4915268

M3 - Article

SN - 0003-6951

VL - 106

JO - Applied Physics Letters

JF - Applied Physics Letters

IS - 11

M1 - 111902

ER -

Alignment engineering in liquid crystalline elastomers: Free-form microstructures with multiple functionalities

Abstract

Keywords

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