Nano-porosity in silicon leads to completely new functionalities in various fields. The goal of the project is to develop a hybrid nano-material system with tunable elastic properties. To this end, liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) will be confined within the pores of a nano-porous silicon membrane. As the mechanical properties of LCE change significantly as a function of stimuli, tunable properties of this hybrid material are expected. This holds great promise for diverse electromechanical applications, such as actuators or sensors. More details can be found here.
