Figure 2.

Characterization of a photoresponsive liquid crystal network composed of photothermal azobenzene chromophores. A) Illustration of the actuation of a splay aligned network, secured on one side by tweezers. The LCN consists of liquid crystals (gray) and photoisomers (yellow) responding to illumination. Starting from a curled geometry, the film unbends toward its planar surface when illuminated. B) Plot displaying the high temporal resolution of the unbending and recurling processes of a LCN strip (2 cm in length and 0.4 cm in width), containing photoswitch A1 corresponding to application (“light on”) and removal (“light off”) of illumination, respectively. C) Graph depicting the actuation performances of the LCN arms and legs as a function of illumination intensity.