Electroactuated liquid crystal polymers

Abstract

Abstract As a typical smart soft material, liquid crystal polymers (LCPs) exhibit significant reversible deformation under external stimuli, possessing excellent mechanical and processable properties, which make LCPs highly promising for applications in artificial muscles, soft robotics, smart fabrics, smart wearable devices, and microfluidics. LCPs can respond to various stimuli, including heat, light, electricity, magnetism, and humidity. Among these, electroactuated LCPs stand out because they can integrate with circuits to achieve programmable control, multichannel parallel control, and effective control in dense and/or sheltered environments. This review introduces recent research progress on electroactuated LCPs. First, electroactuated LCPs are classified based on actuation principles, and working mechanisms, advantages, and shortcomings are discussed. Then, the related applications capable of demonstrating the characteristics of electroactuated LCPs are introduced. Finally, we summarize each class of electroactuated LCPs and discuss their potential for future developments.