  Motivated by the need for new materials and green energy production and
conversion processes, a class of mathematical models for liquid crystal
elastomers integrated within a theoretical charge pump electrical circuit is
considered. The charge pump harnesses the chemical and mechanical properties of
liquid crystal elastomers transitioning from the nematic to isotropic phase
when illuminated or heated to generate higher voltage from a lower voltage
supplied by a battery. For the material constitutive model, purely elastic and
neoclassical-type strain energy densities applicable to a wide range of
monodomain nematic elastomers are combined, while elastic and photo-thermal
responses are decoupled to make the investigation analytically tractable. By
varying the model parameters of the elastic and neoclassical terms, it is found
that liquid crystal elastomers are more effective than rubber when used as
dielectric material within a charge pump capacitor.
