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High Resolution Image Download MS PowerPoint Slide In recent years, photodeformable liquid crystal polymers (LCPs) have attracted considerable interest as a promising class of materials for soft actuators. The continuous enhancement of performance and functionality in photodeformable LCPs highly depend on their chemical/physical cross-linking, the alignment of mesogens and chemical architectures in the polymer network. As a result, a range of techniques for LC alignment, cross-linking, and actuator fabrication have been developed, each tailored to specific chemical processes and offering different programming capabilities. This review examines the evolution of polymeric networks, progressing from permanently cross-linked networks through covalent adaptable networks to physically cross-linked linear LCP systems, offering insights into the interplay among chemical composition, alignment approaches, and processing methods. Finally, we outline unresolved challenges and promising avenues that are poised to drive the field forward.
Chai et al. (Wed,) studied this question.