A reactive azobenzene liquid-crystalline block copolymer as a promising material for practical application of light-driven soft actuators

The freestanding fiber and film comprised of a reactive liquid-crystalline block copolymer were fabricated by facile techniques such as dip-drawing or casting and thereafter immersion to undergo the post-crosslinking. Both of the CLCP fiber and film showed reversible bending and unbending behaviors in response to UV and visible light, respectively.