Preparation of soft microactuators in a continuous flow synthesis using a liquid-crystalline polymer crosslinker

摘要

We present the synthesis of a polymeric liquid crystalline (LC) crosslinker and its usage in the preparation of soft microactuators. The microactuators, composed of thermoresponsive liquid crystalline elastomers (LCE), are fabricated in a microfluidic device in a continuous "on the fly" process. The LC polymer crosslinker is miscible with the LC monomer and provides for a rapid polymerization and crosslinking. Most importantly, it promotes an enantiotropic mesophase of the mobile monomer phase, which is not provided by conventional nonmesogenic crosslinkers. This allows an isothermal handling inside the microfluidic setup. Temperature-driven shape changes up to 65% could be achieved by judiciously optimizing the crosslinking density of the LCE particles.