Polymer promise

University of Alberta researchers are touting the use of liquid crystalline polymers (LCP) as a viable tool for use in devices such as the sought-after lab-on-a-chip technology.

The researchers, collaborating with colleagues at the Eindhoven University of Technology and Phillips Research Laboratories in the Netherlands, have shown that LCP, when formed into a thin film on a glass backing, can be fabricated and patterned on a microscale. The research was published recently in the Journal of Material Chemistry.

‘Based on our research of liquid crystalline polymers, we anticipate the emergence of exciting new techniques in microfabrication that can be used to cheaply and efficiently pattern response materials,’ said Anastasia Elias, a PhD student in Dr. Michael Brett's group in the U of A Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the first author of the paper.

LCPs are often described as ‘artificial muscles’ that can convert thermal, chemical and electromagnetic stimuli into mechanical energy, Elias said. LCPs are polymers made from liquid crystalline molecules, which are well-known for their use in display applications, such as laptop computer screens, where they are used for their unique optical properties.