Opto-mechanical effect in photoactive nematic main-chain liquid-crystalline elastomers

Monodomains of nematic main-chain liquid-crystalline elastomers containing azoderivatives in the polymer backbone have been studied by means of opto-mechanical experiments at different temperatures for the evaluation of the mechanical response, kinetic rates, activation energies and the isomerization mechanism. The increase in the crosslinking density of the network enhances the light-induced stress in the sample, leading to a better performance and more tunability of the systems when compared to nematic side-chain liquid-crystalline elastomers.