Is chemical crosslinking necessary for the photoinduced bending of polymer films?

Abstract

Freestanding crosslinked liquid-crystalline polymer films obtained by self-assembly through intermolecular hydrogen bonding showed photoinduced bending and unbending. The structural change at the microscopic level, caused by trans–cisphotoisomerization of the azobenzene moieties at the hydrogen-bonded crosslinks, is successfully converted into a macroscopic deformation in the liquid-crystalline polymer films.