Synthesis and alignment of liquid crystalline elastomers

KM Herbert, HE Fowler, JM McCracken… - Nature Reviews …, 2022 - nature.com
Liquid crystalline elastomers (LCEs) are crosslinked polymer networks that combine the
elastic properties of rubber with the anisotropic properties of liquid crystals. Multifunctionality …

[HTML][HTML] Self-assembled liquid crystal architectures for soft matter photonics

LL Ma, CY Li, JT Pan, YE Ji, C Jiang, R Zheng… - Light: Science & …, 2022 - nature.com
Self-assembled architectures of soft matter have fascinated scientists for centuries due to
their unique physical properties originated from controllable orientational and/or positional …

Advances in 4D printing of liquid crystalline elastomers: materials, techniques, and applications

Z Guan, L Wang, J Bae - Materials Horizons, 2022 - pubs.rsc.org
Liquid crystalline elastomers (LCEs) are polymer networks exhibiting anisotropic liquid
crystallinity while maintaining elastomeric properties. Owing to diverse polymeric forms and …

[HTML][HTML] Planar liquid crystal polarization optics for augmented reality and virtual reality: from fundamentals to applications

J Xiong, ST Wu - ELight, 2021 - Springer
Planar and ultrathin liquid crystal (LC) polarization optical elements have found promising
applications in augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and photonic devices. In this …

Liquid‐crystal‐mediated geometric phase: from transmissive to broadband reflective planar optics

P Chen, BY Wei, W Hu, YQ Lu - Advanced Materials, 2020 - Wiley Online Library
Planar optical elements that can manipulate the multidimensional physical parameters of
light efficiently and compactly are highly sought after in modern optics and nanophotonics. In …

Liquid crystal elastomers: an introduction and review of emerging technologies

SW Ula, NA Traugutt, RH Volpe, RR Patel… - Liquid Crystals …, 2018 - Taylor & Francis
Liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) are a unique class of materials that combine rubber
elasticity with liquid crystalline anisotropy to produce exceptional physical and optical …

Bacterial active matter

IS Aranson - Reports on Progress in Physics, 2022 - iopscience.iop.org
Bacteria are among the oldest and most abundant species on Earth. Bacteria successfully
colonize diverse habitats and play a significant role in the oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen …

[HTML][HTML] Shape-programmable liquid crystal elastomer structures with arbitrary three-dimensional director fields and geometries

Y Guo, J Zhang, W Hu, MTA Khan, M Sitti - Nature communications, 2021 - nature.com
Liquid crystal elastomers exhibit large reversible strain and programmable shape
transformations, enabling various applications in soft robotics, dynamic optics, and …

Autonomous materials systems from active liquid crystals

R Zhang, A Mozaffari, JJ de Pablo - Nature Reviews Materials, 2021 - nature.com
Liquid crystals (LCs) are ubiquitous in display technologies. The orientational ordering in the
nematic phase of LCs gives rise to structural anisotropy, the ability to form topological …

Command of active matter by topological defects and patterns

C Peng, T Turiv, Y Guo, QH Wei, OD Lavrentovich - Science, 2016 - science.org
Self-propelled bacteria are marvels of nature with a potential to power dynamic materials
and microsystems of the future. The challenge lies in commanding their chaotic behavior. By …