Broadband and Reversible Mechanochromism in Cholesteric Liquid Crystal Elastomers via Crosslink Density Modulation with a Monofunctional Mesogen

Abstract Cholesteric liquid crystal elastomers (CLCEs) have attracted significant attention for their ability to rapidly modulate structural colors in response to external stimuli. However, their practical applications have been constrained by a limited wavelength tuning range, typically below 160 nm. To address this limitation, a reactive mesogen containing a monoacrylate group is employed to engineer CLCEs with enhanced wavelength tunability. Incorporating the monoacrylate reactive mesogens into the elastomer network effectively reduced the crosslink density, which in turn facilitated a broadband peak shift of up to 430 nm under 200% uniaxial strain. Furthermore, strain‐induced broadband camouflage patterning is demonstrated in the CLCE films, thereby highlighting their potential for advanced security applications.