Figure 1: Photomotility of a polymeric strip.
(a) Light induced motion (photomotility) of a thin strip composed of an azo-LCNs in the twisted nematic geometry aligned with the nematic director offset +15° (top) and −75° (bottom) to the principle axes of the strip. On irradiation with 200 mW cm−2 of 320–500 nm light, the 15 μm thick strip forms a spiral ribbon and to continuous irradiation moves to the right. (b) The relative displacement taken from frame by frame analysis is recorded as a function of time. (c) A histogram of normalized frequency versus relative displacement demonstrates the variability in the motion. (d) Schematic of the spiral ribbon force balance illustrating the mechanism of the photomotility.
