fig4

Figure 4. Thermal actuation of LCEs. (A) Versatile shape morphing capabilities of LCEs by designing the local LC alignment and incorporating the non-actuation domain. Scale bars, 2 mm. Reproduced with permission^[79]. Copyright 2018, WILEY-VCH; (B) illustration of the room-temperature embossing of LCE films, and the reversible actuation of the processed LCE film. Scale bars, 5 mm. Reproduced with permission^[23]. Copyright 2005, The Royal Society of Chemistry; (C) FEA simulations and optical images of the LCE actuator composed of two different LCE layers through the 4D-printing method. The light and dark blue regions denote two phases with different light exposure times (9 and 16 s) during the crosslinking process. Scale bars, 5 mm. Reproduced with permission^[19]. Copyright 2021 Wiley-VCH GmbH; (D) LCEs with embedded channels, which can be actuated through water heating/cooling. Reproduced with permission^[88]. Copyright 2020, American Chemical Society.