Robust cholesteric liquid crystal elastomer fibres for mechanochromic textiles

Mechanically responsive textiles have transformative potential in many areas from fashion to healthcare. Cholesteric liquid crystal elastomers have strong mechanochromic responses that offer attractive opportunities for such applications. Nonetheless, making liquid crystalline elastomer fibres suitable for textiles is challenging since the Plateau–Rayleigh instability tends to break up precursor solutions into droplets. Here, we report a simple approach that balances the viscoelastic properties of the precursor solution to avoid this outcome and achieve long and mechanically robust cholesteric liquid crystal elastomer filaments. These filaments have fast, progressive and reversible mechanochromic responses, from red to blue (wavelength shift of 155 nm), when stretched up to 200%. Moreover, the fibres can be sewed into garments and withstand repeated stretching and regular machine washing. This approach and resulting fibres may be useful for applications in wearable technology and other areas benefiting from autonomous strain sensing or detection of critically strong deformations.