Liquid Crystalline Elastomers and Block Copolymers

Smart materials that can respond to external stimuli,such as light,heat,chemicals,electric and magnetic fields,have attracted considerable attention for their fascinating properties and potential applications. Liquid crystalline elastomer is a mesogen-containing network formed by lightly crosslinked polymer chains and is particularly useful for sensors and actuators.It is also possible to prepare liquid crystalline elastomer from self-assembling of the liquid crystalline block copolymers. This thesis focuses on the research of liquid crystalline elastomer and block copolymer with stimuli-responsive properties, including their synthesis,characterization and stimuli-responsive properties.