Giant flexoelectricity in bent-core nematic liquid crystal elastomers

Recently ferroelectric ceramic and bent-core nematic liquid crystals have demonstrated flexoelectricity (coupling between curvature strains to electric polarization) up to 10 4 times larger than the previous standards. This may allow for usable electromechanical devices. However, ceramics are too rigid to withstand large bending and bent-core nematic fluids must be physically supported-their technological applicability is still limited. In this paper, we show that novel side-chain bent-core nematic elastomers not only produce giant flexoelectricity but are also robust and flexible enough for microscale parasitic power generation.