Cytocompatible liquid crystal elastomer fibers for potential application as artificial skeletal or cardiac muscle
Lukas Benecke, Dilbar Aibibu, Chokri Cherif · Springer Science and Business Media LLC · 2026
This research presents cytocompatible liquid crystal elastomer fibers that mimic muscle tissue, showing promise for artificial skeletal and cardiac muscle applications.
Plain English summary
Why this matters
Key findings
- Developed artificial muscle fibers from liquid crystal elastomers.
- Achieved mass specific work of up to 31.2 J kg −1.
- Demonstrated fast activation time of 0.466 seconds.
- Created cytocompatible LCEF for the first time.
- Showed potential for applications in tissue engineering.
What's new
The introduction of cytocompatible liquid crystal elastomer fibers that mimic muscle characteristics is a significant advancement in the field.
Limitations
The abstract does not provide details on long-term performance or scalability of the fibers for practical applications.
Commercial context
The technology is still in the laboratory stage and has not yet been commercialized.
Publication
- Publisher
- Springer Science and Business Media LLC
- Publication date
- June 4, 2026
- Research type
- Paper
- License
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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