title: Graphene-Enabled Superior and Tunable Photomechanical Actuation in Liquid Crystalline Elastomer Nanocomposites.
abstract: Programmable photoactuation enabled by graphene: Graphene sheets aligned in liquid crystalline elastomers are capable of absorbing near-infrared light. They thereafter act as nanoheaters and provide thermally conductive pathways to trigger the nematic-to-isotropic transition of elastomers, leading to macroscopic mechanical deformation of nanocomposites. Large strain, high actuation force, high initial sensitivity, fast reversible response, and long cyclability are concurrently achieved in nanocomposites.
authors.affiliation: MOE Key Laboratory for Green Preparation and Application of Functional Materials, Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Advanced Organic Chemical Materialsand School of Materials Science and Engineering, Hubei University, Wuhan, 430062, China.|School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA.
authors.forename: Yingkui
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: MOE Key Laboratory for Green Preparation and Application of Functional Materials, Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Advanced Organic Chemical Materialsand School of Materials Science and Engineering, Hubei University, Wuhan, 430062, China.
authors.forename: Wenjie
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhan
authors.affiliation: MOE Key Laboratory for Green Preparation and Application of Functional Materials, Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Advanced Organic Chemical Materialsand School of Materials Science and Engineering, Hubei University, Wuhan, 430062, China.
authors.forename: Rengui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: MOE Key Laboratory for Green Preparation and Application of Functional Materials, Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Advanced Organic Chemical Materialsand School of Materials Science and Engineering, Hubei University, Wuhan, 430062, China.
authors.forename: Chengen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA.
authors.forename: Xinchang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Pang
authors.affiliation: MOE Key Laboratory for Green Preparation and Application of Functional Materials, Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Advanced Organic Chemical Materialsand School of Materials Science and Engineering, Hubei University, Wuhan, 430062, China.
authors.forename: Dean
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: MOE Key Laboratory for Green Preparation and Application of Functional Materials, Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Advanced Organic Chemical Materialsand School of Materials Science and Engineering, Hubei University, Wuhan, 430062, China.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA.
authors.forename: Zhiqun
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Lin
keywords: graphene; liquid crystalline elastomers; nanostructures; photomechanical actuators; photothermomechanical conversion