Light‐Driven Side‐On Nematic Elastomer Actuators

Abstract

A range of monodomain nematic azo side‐on elastomers , containing different proportions of photoisomerizable azo mesogenic moieties, were prepared for the first time photochemically using a radical photoinitiator working at wavelengths above 600 nm. These elastomers exhibit a photomechanical contraction of up to 20 % upon irradiation with UV light. The Figure shows an elastomer film in its contracted form under UV irradiation.