A Liquid Crystal Polymer With Thermally‐Induced Deformation and Reversible Fluorescence Switching

Abstract Stimuli‐responsive liquid crystal polymers (LCPs) hold significant promises as materials for designing multifunctional soft actuators. Recently, this group explored a novel strategy to develop a multi‐responsive LCP by combining ring‐opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) with post‐polymerization modification (PPM). The current study aims to advance the approach to design an LCP capable of thermally‐induced deformation and fluorescence switching. ROMP is first employed to synthesize a reactive linear LCP precursor containing aggregation‐induced emission luminogens (AIEgens) with excellent processability, enabling the preparation of arbitrary shapes through various processing techniques. Subsequently, PPM is responsible for anchoring the mesogen alignment of the as‐prepared film and fiber geometries. The obtained cross‐linked LCP films and fibers undergo contraction, bending, unfolding and rolling with increasing temperature. Furthermore, the disruption of mesogen at high temperature weakens the restriction of AIEgen motions, facilitating the switching of the fluorescence property of LCPs. This material design combines the diverse fabrication opportunities, advanced actuation capabilities, and the tunable emission properties of AIEgens, while also enabling the visualization of the actuator's state.