Flexoelectric polarisation in liquid crystalline elastomers with wedge-shaped mesogens was investigated.
Flexoelectric polarisation was fixed in the elastomers that were cross-linked under uniaxial
deformation with splay distortion. X-ray diffractometry revealed that the orientational order
partially remained at about S = 0.2 even in the temperature region of the isotropic phase designated
tentatively as the pseudo-isotropic phase. The electric charge caused by polarisation due to
the flexoelectric effect was estimated to be −809 pC/mm2 in the splay distorted liquid crystalline
elastomers, whereas almost no electric charge was detected in the uniaxially and uniformly aligned
elastomers. We tentatively conclude that the macroscopic polarisation due to flexoelectric effect
emerged and was fixed in the liquid crystalline elastomers by cross-linking under splay distortion.