Xue Wan

Project title: Functional liquid crystal elastomer-based fibers

Host Institution: Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e)

Host Supervisor: Prof. Albert Schenning

Co-host Institution: École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)

Co-host Supervisor: Dr. Fabien Sorin

Summary project: Stimuli-responsive fiber actuators have attracted wide attention for potential applications ranging from soft robotics to smart textiles. Liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) is an appealing class of reversible stimuli-responsive materials having fast actuation speed and large strain. However, LCE fiber actuators have rarely been reported, especially with multi-stimuli responsiveness at a large scale. We propose to synthesize a supramolecular light-responsive LCE and integrate it with multi-material to fabricate functional LCE-based fibers. These fibers can be reprogrammable and the production can be easily scaled up. The multi-stimuli-responsive shape changes and sensing capability will bring these fibers closer to real-world applications.