Nanostructures: Graphene‐Enabled Superior and Tunable Photomechanical Actuation in Liquid Crystalline Elastomer Nanocomposites (Adv. Mater. 41/2015)

Abstract

Actuated materials undergo shape and dimension changes in response to external stimuli and thus convert various forms of input energies into mechanical work. On page 6376, Y. Yang, Z. Lin, and co-workers report novel near-infrared responsive composites consisting of uniformly aligned graphene in a liquid-crystalline elastomer matrix. Large deformation amplitude, high driving force, fast reversible response, and long cyclability can be achieved by tuning the characteristics of graphene in these nanocomposites. Such materials have potential applications in robotics, artificial muscles, switches, motors, sensors, and micromechanical systems.