Functionalized liquid crystal networks: towards soft actuators and organic zeolites

Liq. crystal networks may undergo mech. deformation, expansion or contraction, under the action of an external stimulus where the directionality and the extent of the deformation depends on their av. (local) mol. orientation. For densely crosslinked networks the mech. deformation in general relates to the minor and reversible changes of the order parameter. The anisotropic properties of liq. crystal networks led to a variety of applications in optics electronics and mechanics. The combination of photolithog. (top-down) and self-organizing structuring (bottom-up) accommodates a wealth of applications that even are not fully explored yet. By adding addnl. functional moieties to the reactive mesogens, such as light-responsive azo moieties or reversibly-breakable H bridges, the application field can even be extended. Some of these new potential applications, i.e., the soft actuators responding to heat, light of chem. changes and the nano-sculptured porous membranes, are discussed.