A liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) combines a rubber-like elasticity with an orientational order, which makes the material sensitive to external cues such as temperature and light. Recently, Liu et al. [1] demonstrated that LCE coatings change their profile in response to an in-plane AC electric field. The response is attributed to the realignments of the molecular dipoles by the field and the ensuing volumetric expansion of the material [1,2]. We explore experimentally how the temperature, frequency and amplitude of the AC field affect the surface profile of the LCE coatings and demonstrate the existence of two resonance frequencies at which the response is maximized.

References:

[1] Danqing Liu, Nicholas B. Tito, and Dirk J. Broer, Protruding organic surfaces triggered by in-plane electric fields, Nature Communications 8, 1526 (2017).
[2] Guido L. A. Kusters, Inge P. Verheul, Nicholas B. Tito, Paul van der Schoot, and Cornelis Storm, Dynamical Landau–de Gennes theory for electrically-responsive liquid crystal networks, Phys. Rev. E 102, 042703 (2020).