Epitaxial growth of light-responsive azobenzene molecular crystal actuators on oriented polyethylene films

We report on the epitaxial growth of photoresponsive alkyl-substituted azobenzene fibres on top of uniaxially oriented polyethylene (PE) films. In these fibres, the alkyl chains are oriented parallel with regard to the drawing direction of PE, whereas the azobenzene moieties pack into a roughly 60° angle. The bilayer films act as a light responsive actuator generating an actuation stress of about 3 MPa.