Liquid crystal elastomers


Liquid crystal elastomers (LCE) are soft functional materials consisting of weakly crosslinked polymer networks with embedded liquid crystalline (mesogenic) molecules. Consequently, LCE are characterized by a pronounced coupling between macroscopic strain and orientational mesogenic order. As the latter can be controlled by external stimuli such as temperature variation, electric field, or ultraviolet light, LCE have great potential for application as sensors and actuators. We perform large-scale lattice (Lebwohl-Lasher-type) and off-lattice (Gay-Berne) molecular Monte Carlo simulations to study thermo- and electromechanical effects, as well the poly-to-monodomain transition in LCE. We use our simulation output to connect to typical experimental observables, predicting stress-strain behavior, specific heat, deuterium magnetic resonance spectra, and scattered X-ray patterns.

Selected papers