Seungmin Nam, a postdoctoral researcher at POSTECH’s Department of Electrical Engineering (first author, advisor: Prof. Sooseok Choi), received the Encouragement Award at the 2024 Fall Conference of the Korean Polymer Society for his paper titled “Bidirectional Wavelength Tuning in Stretchable Chiral Liquid Crystal Elastomers using Multi-modal Soft Actuators.”

This research combines nano-rotational structural materials with electric-active polymers to develop flexible actuators that can freely adjust the structural color wavelength and position of nanostructures in both directions. By overcoming the limitations of traditional unidirectional wavelength tuning, this technology enables flexible and stretchable photonic devices that can change color freely across a wide visible range (450-650nm) in both short and long wavelength directions. This significant improvement in wavelength control capabilities offers potential applications in a wide range of fields, including displays, optical sensors, optical camouflage, biomimetic sensors, smart wearable devices, and broadband color and electromagnetic applications.

The research was supported by the Samsung Future Technology Foundation and Samsung Electronics.