A small strip of rubbery material sits motionless on a lab bench at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. A researcher aims ...

If you plop these thin wafers, made up of several layers of a stretchy material called 'liquid crystal elastomers,' onto a hot plate, they will begin to warp. Then, suddenly and explosively, they leap ...

The researchers used an X-ray microbeam during printing to locally measure liquid crystal alignment and direction inside the printer nozzle. A class of synthetic soft materials called liquid crystal ...

Dynamic liquid crystal elastomer composites enable a 3D-printed soft robot that switches between three propulsion modes on water and reshapes its body for complex tasks. (Nanowerk Spotlight) Living ...

The research team of China’s Xi’an Jiaotong University used the reversible thermochrome deformation ability of liquid crystal elastomers, combined with the excellent mechanical properties of ...

Researchers used rotational multimaterial 3D printing to pattern active and passive polymers within filaments. The approach ...

(Nanowerk Spotlight) Smart materials that can change their properties like color or shape in response to external stimuli are highly desirable for advanced applications like soft robotics, adaptable ...

LEEDS, U.K.—Equity firm Northern Gritstone Ltd. has invested in a United Kingdom-based startup focused on developing auxetic synthetic materials from liquid crystal elastomers. The investment is part ...

Traditionally, active metasurface researches have primarily focused on changing the dielectric constant and permeability of the substrate, which frequently results in resonance effect and ohmic loss.