Enhanced thermomechanical properties of a nematic liquid crystal elastomer doped with gold nanoparticles

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• 作者：Reza Montazami^a ; ^{reza@iastate.edu} ; Christopher M. Spillmann^b ; Jawad Naciri^b ; Banahalli R. Ratna^b
• 关键词：Liquid crystal ; Elastomer ; Doped ; Nanoparticles ; Thermomechanical
• 刊名：Sensors and Actuators A ; Physical
• 出版年：2012
• 期刊代码：160_09244247
• 类别：et
• 出版时间：May, 2012
• 卷：178
• 期：Complete
• 页码：175-178
• 文件大小：650 K

摘要

Here we report the development of a thermomechanical nematic liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) actuator containing gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). Embedding a low concentration of AuNPs enhances the thermal conductivity of the actuator with minimal effect on the elasticity of the cross-linked polymer. Doping LCEs with AuNPs provides a means to improve the material response time to external stimuli. Under fast heating conditions, the AuNP-doped LCE actuators exhibited more than a 100%increase in the rate of change of strain with respect to time.