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Wrinkled Liquid‐Crystalline Microparticle‐Enhanced Photoresponse of PDLC‐Like Films by Coupling with Mechanical Stretching
Author(s) -
Yu Haifeng,
Dong Chong,
Zhou WeiMin,
Kobayashi Takaomi,
Yang Huai
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
small
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.785
H-Index - 236
eISSN - 1613-6829
pISSN - 1613-6810
DOI - 10.1002/smll.201101098
Subject(s) - materials science , polymer , liquid crystal , mesogen , bilayer , microparticle , fabrication , dopant , chemical engineering , nanotechnology , liquid crystalline , composite material , doping , membrane , optoelectronics , chemistry , medicine , biochemistry , alternative medicine , pathology , engineering
Photoresponsive behaviors are studied in hybrid liquid‐crystalline (LC) films prepared with light‐responsive LC polymer microparticles as dopants using photoinert polymers as a host material. Upon mechanical stretching, both topological shape change and mesogenic alignment occur in the LC polymer microparticles, enabling the polymer‐dispersed LC (PDLC)‐like films to bend toward a light source upon UV irradiation. The rough morphologies of the hydrophobic LC microparticles enhance their interactions with hydrophilic polymer substrates. The bilayer‐like structures of the hybrid film formed in the fabrication processes are responsible for the photomechanical behavior, which is reversibly controlled by combing light irradiation with the stretching processes.