TY - JOUR
T1 - Photoswitchable Configuration of Nematic Liquid Crystal Droplets Embedded in a Honeycomb-Patterned Film
AU - Mukai, Koji
AU - Hara, Mitsuo
AU - Yabu, Hiroshi
AU - Nagano, Shusaku
AU - Seki, Takahiro
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI (S) (Grant Number 16H06355 to TS) and (B) (Grant Number 19H02774 to SN) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Wiley-VCH GmbH
PY - 2021/10/22
Y1 - 2021/10/22
N2 - Honeycomb-patterned polymer films prepared by the breath figure method exhibit unique shape features. These films have potential in various applications, but functional materials are rarely embedded into the arrayed cavity. Here, a photoswitchable function of a compartmented nematic liquid crystal (NLC) in a honeycomb array is proposed. Surface segregation and liquid crystal self-assembly processes cover curved honeycomb walls of polystyrene (PS) with a high-density polymer brush of an azobenzene side chain liquid crystalline polymer (SCLCP), producing honeycomb polymer films with isolated cavities. Spherical confinement of the cavities with the SCLC brush provides a bipolar nematic director (planar anchoring), whereas UV light irradiation induces a radial configuration (homeotropic anchoring) of NLC droplets. Photoisomerization of azobenzene UV and visible light irradiation repeatedly induces a photoswitchable change between the bipolar and radial modes.
AB - Honeycomb-patterned polymer films prepared by the breath figure method exhibit unique shape features. These films have potential in various applications, but functional materials are rarely embedded into the arrayed cavity. Here, a photoswitchable function of a compartmented nematic liquid crystal (NLC) in a honeycomb array is proposed. Surface segregation and liquid crystal self-assembly processes cover curved honeycomb walls of polystyrene (PS) with a high-density polymer brush of an azobenzene side chain liquid crystalline polymer (SCLCP), producing honeycomb polymer films with isolated cavities. Spherical confinement of the cavities with the SCLC brush provides a bipolar nematic director (planar anchoring), whereas UV light irradiation induces a radial configuration (homeotropic anchoring) of NLC droplets. Photoisomerization of azobenzene UV and visible light irradiation repeatedly induces a photoswitchable change between the bipolar and radial modes.
KW - azobenzene
KW - configuration switching
KW - honeycomb films
KW - liquid crystal droplets, polymer brush
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U2 - 10.1002/admi.202100891
DO - 10.1002/admi.202100891
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85115260548
VL - 8
JO - Advanced Materials Interfaces
JF - Advanced Materials Interfaces
SN - 2196-7350
IS - 20
M1 - 2100891
ER -