title: Opto-mechanical effect in photoactive nematic side-chain liquid-crystalline elastomers.
abstract: The mechanical behaviour of monodomain nematic side-chain liquid-crystalline elastomers containing azoderivatives as pendant groups or crosslinkers has been studied under UV irradiation and in the darkness at different temperatures. From the evaluation of the opto-mechanical experiments, the mechanical efficiency, kinetic rates, activation energies and the isomerization mechanism of the azocompounds in the liquid-crystalline matrix could be determined, as well as the effect of the chemical constitution of the azobenzene derivatives and their role in the elastomeric network.
authors.affiliation: Food and Soft Materials Science Group, Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health, ETH Zurich, Schmelzbergstrasse 9, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland. antoni.sanchez@agrl.ethz.ch.
authors.forename: Antoni
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sánchez-Ferrer
authors.forename: Alexey
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Merekalov
authors.forename: Heino
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Finkelmann
mesh_terms: D020724:Elastomers / Q000737:chemistry*; D007536:Isomerism; D007700:Kinetics; D050866:Liquid Crystals / Q000737:chemistry*; D015394:Molecular Structure
chemical_list: D020724:Elastomers