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Soft actuators have attracted a lot of attention because of their impressive performance and wide range of applications. Liquid crystalline networks (LCNs) are a combination of liquid crystals and polymers, and they are considered to be the most promising materials for creating soft actuators. MXene has a high photothermal conversion efficiency, and it can be a heat-source under near-infrared light. In this paper, we fabricated a MXene/LCN composite film by coating a solution of Ti3C2Tx MXene onto an LCN film with orientation direction and then followed by drying. We observed different types of deformations when we cut the composite film in different directions. We also measured the influence of the near-infrared light intensity on the bending angle, response time, and recovery time of the composite films with different deformations. Finally, we used this composite film to fabricate various biomimetic devices such as biomimetic flowers, artificial irises, mechanical fixtures, and crawling robots. These results demonstrate the great potential of this composite film in soft actuator applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We proposed a polarisation interference filter (PIF) to enlarge the colour gamut of liquid crystal display (LCD) with YAG-LED backlight, and the PIF consists of two crossed polarisers and two liquid crystal layers. The PIF can be used in the backlight unit to improve the colour gamut of LCD by eliminating unwanted colours in the spectrum. When the PIF is integrated into the YAG-LED backlight, the colour gamut of the LCD can be improved from 84% NTSC to 116% NTSC, and the colour gamut is larger than 116% NTSC within 30° polar angle. When a compensation layer is employed, the colour gamut distribution of LCD is more uniform at full viewing angles. The PIF has great potential for achieving a wide colour gamut display. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]