ABSTRACT Transparency and stability to UV light are important and desirable properties for modern tunable optical elements and active soft robots. A library of novel reactive mesogens for liquid crystal polymer networks resilient and transparent to UV light has been synthetised and characterised. Phase behaviours of the reactive mesogens have been determined by polarised optical microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. Liquid crystal polymer networks based on the combination of these novel reactive mesogens have been evaluated and compared to those based on common commercially available compounds. The results showed a twofold increase in transparency in a broad UV spectral region (200–400 nm) and importantly showed no degradation upon prolonged UV exposure contrary to the networks composed from commercial counterparts. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

中文翻译：

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紫外透明液晶聚合物网络的反应性介晶

摘要 对紫外光的透明度和稳定性是现代可调光学元件和主动软机器人的重要和理想特性。已经合成和表征了用于液晶聚合物网络的新型反应性液晶元库，该网络对紫外线具有弹性和透明性。反应性介晶的相行为已通过偏振光学显微镜和差示扫描量热法确定。基于这些新型反应性介晶组合的液晶聚合物网络已经过评估，并与基于常见市售化合物的液晶聚合物网络进行了比较。结果表明，在宽广的紫外光谱区域（200-400 nm）中，透明度增加了两倍，重要的是，与商业对应物组成的网络相反，长时间暴露在紫外光下没有降解。图形概要