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Light‐Directing Omnidirectional Circularly Polarized Reflection from Liquid‐Crystal Droplets
Author(s) -
Fan Jing,
Li Yannian,
Bisoyi Hari Krishna,
Zola Rafael S.,
Yang Dengke,
Bunning Timothy J.,
Weitz David A.,
Li Quan
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.201410788
Subject(s) - materials science , cholesteric liquid crystal , reflection (computer programming) , microfluidics , liquid crystal , optics , dispersity , optoelectronics , photonic crystal , planar , superstructure , nanotechnology , oceanography , physics , computer graphics (images) , geology , computer science , polymer chemistry , programming language
Constructing and tuning self‐organized three‐dimensional (3D) superstructures with tailored functionality is crucial in the nanofabrication of smart molecular devices. Herein we fabricate a self‐organized, phototunable 3D photonic superstructure from monodisperse droplets of one‐dimensional cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) containing a photosensitive chiral molecular switch with high helical twisting power. The droplets are obtained by a glass capillary microfluidic technique by dispersing into PVA solution that facilitates planar anchoring of the liquid‐crystal molecules at the droplet surface, as confirmed by the observation of normal incidence selective circular polarized reflection in all directions from the core of individual droplet. Photoirradiation of the droplets furnishes dynamic reflection colors without thermal relaxation, whose wavelength can be tuned reversibly by variation of the irradiation time. The results provided clear evidence on the phototunable reflection in all directions.