File Name : figure s1.pdf

Caption : dielectric permittivity of mlc-6608 liquid crystal as a function of frequency on a double-logarithmic scale. (a) measurements of all cells for both parallel and perpendicular orientations with respect to the rubbing direction over the full frequency range. (b) enlarged view from 400 mhz to 100 hz. (c) average dielectric permittivity of all cells for the entire frequency range. (d) enlarged view from 400 mhz to 100 hz for average dielectric permittivity.

File Name : figure s2.pdf

Caption : conductivity of mlc-6608 liquid crystal as a function of frequency on a double-logarithmic scale. (a) measurements of all cells for both parallel and perpendicular orientations with respect to the rubbing direction over the full frequency range. (b) enlarged view from 400 mhz to 100 hz. (c) enlarged view from 100 hz to 10 khz. (d) average conductivity of all cells over the full frequency range.

File Name : figure s3.pdf

Caption : (a) cad model of the designed microrod. (b) schematic illustration of the contour printing process used for fabricating the microrod.

File Name : figure s4.pdf

Caption : two representations of velocity-x. (a), (c), and (e) represent absolute velocity-x vs electric field with error bars for microrods of aspect ratios 2.5, 5, and 7.5, respectively, for both 6 hz and 11 hz. (b), (d), and (f) show logarithmic plots of absolute velocity-x vs electric field for the same aspect ratios, including linear fits for both 6 hz and 11 hz. for all plots, the velocities at 6 hz are averaged over four to five measurements, and at 11 hz over five measurements. the cell thicknesses were 10 μm.

File Name : figure s5.pdf

Caption : two representations of velocity-x. (a), (c), and (e) represent absolute velocity-x vs electric field with error bars for microrods of aspect ratios 2.5, 5, and 7.5, respectively, for both 6 hz and 11 hz. (b), (d), and (f) show logarithmic plots of absolute velocity-x vs electric field for the same aspect ratios, including linear fits for both 6 hz and 11 hz. for all plots, the velocities at 6 hz are averaged over four measurements, and at 11 hz over five measurements. 2.5 and 5 aspect ratio microrods were in ≈10 μm thick cell, while 7.5 was in 9.4 μm cell.

File Name : figure s6.pdf

Caption : (a) polarized optical microscopic image of microrods propelled under an alternating electric field of 0.8 v/μm at 11 hz (square waveform), recorded under a lambda plate. the green channel of the original image is displayed with trajectories for better contrast. the selected particles marked in white colour represent the microrods moving almost parallel to the nematic director. the ones in green colour represent the trajectories that travel at an angle to the nematic director.  zoomed-in region of the trajectories of microrods travelling (b) parallel and (c) at an angle relative to the nematic director. the trajectory represents the microrod’s position over 5 s. the video of these microrods is shown in supplementary video 1. microrod length: 15 μm; diameter: 2 μm; cell thickness: 10 μm.