Nanomaterials-Embedded Liquid Crystal Elastomers in Electronics Devices Application

Abstract

Liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) are soft, elastic, durable, and lightweight materials that offer different physical phenomena with the presence of external stimuli. Cross-linked natural three-dimensional structures of liquid-crystalline polymer chains (nematic, cholesteric, or smectic) form the elastic network of LCEs. The hybridization by dispersing nanoparticles (NPs) or nanotubes (NTs) in LCEs matrix leads to change in its physical as well as chemical properties. This chapter focuses on recent developments of NPs- and NTs-embedded LCEs that has provided many opportunities for a wide range of applications of electronic devices including actuators, tactile display, soft robotics, and microtechnology. LCEs network with reinforced nanomaterials provide better electrical, optical, thermal, and mechanical properties resulting enhancement of performance in its targeted applications. Initially, brief synthesis processes of zero- to one-dimensional nanomaterials-embedded LCEs composites will be discussed by explaining the core mechanism followed by physical properties. Subsequently, details of devices application such as soft robotics, artificial heliotropism, refreshable braille displays, reversible shape-changing artificial muscles, and shape memory will be discussed.