title: Photoluminescent nematic liquid crystalline elastomer with a thermomechanical emission variation function.
abstract: Nematic liquid crystalline elastomer (LCE) microactuators are developed, showing simultaneous thermomechanical deformation and photoluminescence (PL) emission variation functions. The microactuators are prepared by a method combining soft-lithography and photo-polymerization/crosslinking. 1,4-Bis(α-cyano-4-methoxystyryl)benzene as the PL dye is synthesized, characterized, and introduced into LCEs as a dopant in the preparation process. During the heating process, PL emission of the LCE micropillars under blue light excitation becomes significantly weak when the micropillars contract. When cooling down, the emission completely recovers as the micropillars stretches back to their original shape. The PL intensity variation at the transition is proved to be related to the thermomechanical deformation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Laboratory of Advanced Materials (MOE), Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Renbo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Yaning
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Xiaogong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Keller
mesh_terms: D020724:Elastomers / Q000737:chemistry*; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000737:chemistry*; D008027:Light; D050866:Liquid Crystals / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D058105:Polymerization / Q000528:radiation effects; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D013696:Temperature; D013816:Thermodynamics
chemical_list: D020724:Elastomers; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes
keywords: emission variation; liquid crystalline elastomer; microactuator; photoluminescence; thermomechanical