Photo-responsive liquid crystal network-based material with adaptive modulus for haptic application

Artificially created tactile feedback is in high demand due to fast developments in robotics, remote control in medicine, virtual reality, and smart electronics. Despite significant progress, high-quality haptic feedback devices remain challenging mainly due to the lack of stability and spatiotemporal resolution. In this work, we address these issues by the application of dynamic coatings, based on photo-responsive liquid crystal network (LCN) material. This material adapts upon an external stimulus (UV light with a power intensity of 50–90 mW/cm2) that changes its elastic properties (87% decrease of the modulus for 90 mW/cm2 power intensity of 365 nm UV light). Localized change of adaptive modulus with very high resolution (2 μm) was demonstrated.