Correlation between Mechano-Optical Properties of Cholesteric Liquid Crystal Elastomers and Monomer Composition

Abstract

Cholesteric Liquid crystal elastomers (CLCE) have both orientation of liquid crystal and elasticity of polymer network. Especially, CLCE shows structural color and it changes with the helical pitch. In this study, we prepared CLCE by mixing multiple molecules with various functions. The synthesized materials showed structural color, and it changed as the external stress change. It also had different optical and mechanical properties depending on the inside molecular structure. From these results, it is possible to change the material properties easily, and such characteristics are expected to be applied as flexible devices.