FIG. 4.

(a) Schematic illustrating molecular orientation of LCE transitioning from nematic to homeotropic along the plane and nematic to homeotropic orthogonal to the plane. This causes a photothermally inducted crawling actuation in the presence of light. Scale bar: 2 mm. Reproduced with permission from Zeng et al., Macromol. Rapid Commun. 39, 1700224 (2018). Copyright 2018 Wiley. (B) Schematic illustrating twist alignment through the thickness of an LCE cell caused by the orientation of the carbon nanotube forest. This orientation allows for a photothermally inducted bending actuation. Reproduced with permission from Kim et al., Adv. Funct. Mater. 29, 1905063 (2019). Copyright 2019 Wiley.