A liquid crystal droplet lens driven by the dielectrophoresis (DEP) force was demonstrated. The liquid crystal droplet lens was deformed by the DEP forces under non-uniform AC electric fields. Focal length, hysteresis and electrode design were studied. The focal length varied from 1.6mm to 2.6mm in the range of 0-200V at 1 kHz for electrode spacing of 5 0mum; that is, the tuning ratio of the focal length was about 60% in maximum. The hysteresis of contact angle was found to be less than 3 degrees and it vanished after 1 minute at the rest state. As the electrode spacing over 200 mum, the tuning ratios of the focal length dropped below 5%. The liquid crystal droplet lens that had numerical aperture of about 0.5 consumed power of about 0.1mW. Its response time was measured to be about 220 ms.

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In this study, we synthesized organic/inorganic hybrid materials containing cadmium sulfide (CdS) nanoparticles using a novel amphiphilic conducting block copolymer as a synergistic structure-directing template and an efficient exciton quencher of the hybrid. The amphiphilic rod-coil block copolymer of polyphenylene-b-poly(2-vinyl pyridine) (PPH-PVP) was first prepared from its coil-coil precursor block copolymer of poly(1,3-cyclohexadiene)-b-poly(2-vinyl pyridine) (PCHD-PVP) by using sequential anionic polymerization followed by the aromatization reaction of converting the PCHD block to form conducting PPH. The synthesized PCHD-PVP block copolymers self-assembled into different bulk nanostructures of lamellae, cylinders, and spheres at a volume fraction similar to that of many coil-coil block copolymer systems. However, an enhanced chain-stiffness-induced morphological transformation was observed after the aromatization reaction. This is evidenced by the TEM observation in which both spherical and cylindrical structured PCHD-PVPs transform into lamellar structured PPH-PVPs after aromatization. In addition to the bulk-phase transformation, the rigid-rod characteristic of the conducting PPH block also affects the self-assembling property of the block copolymers in their solution state. CdS nanoparticles were synthesized in situ in a selective solvent of THF using PCHD-PVP and PPH-PVP micelles as nanoreactors. The PPH-PVP/Cd ion in THF exhibits a new ringlike structure of uniform size (approximately 50 nm) with PPH in the inner rim and complexed PVP/Cd ions in the outer rim as a result of the effects of strong intermolecular forces between PPH segments and the solvophobic interaction. CdS nanoclusters were subsequently synthesized in situ from the PPH-PVP/Cd(2+) ring structure, forming a nanohybrid with intimate contact between the PPH domain and CdS nanoparticles. In particular, we found that there is an efficient energy/electron transfer between the conducting PPH domain and CdS nanoparticles in the hybrid, resulting in an enhanced PL quenching effect. The novel nanohybrid shows the potential to be used for optoelectronic applications.

Poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene): poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) is a widely used conductive aqueous dispersion synthesized by using emulsion polymerization method. To further enhance its solution processability and conductivity of PEDOT derivatives, we proposed to replace the nonconductive PSS with conductive poly[2‐(3thienyl)‐ethoxy‐4‐butylsulfonate] (PTEB) as surfactant for the emulsion polymerization of PEDOT. The reaction involved colloid stabilization and doping in one step, and yielded PEDOT:PTEB composite nanoparticles with high electrical conductivity. Contrary to its counterpart containing nonconductive surfactant, PEDOT: PTEB showed increasing film conductivity with increasing PTEB concentration. The result demonstrates the formation of efficient electrical conduction network formed by the fully conductive latex nanoparticles. The addition of PTEB for EDOT polymerization significantly reduced the size of composite particles, formed stable spherical particles, enhanced thermal stability, crystallinity, and conductivity of PEDOT:PTEB composite. Evidence from UV–VIS and FTIR measurement showed that strong molecular interaction between PTEB and PEDOT resulted in the doping of PEDOT chains. X‐ray analysis further demonstrated that PTEB chains were intercalated in the layered crystal structure of PEDOT. The emulsion polymerization of EDOT using conducting surfactant, PTEB demonstrated the synergistic effect of PTEB on colloid stability and intercalation doping of PEDOT during polymerization resulting in significant conductivity improvement of PEDOT composite nanoparticles. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 46: 2536–2548, 2008

Through the Stille coupling polymerization, a series of soluble acceptor/donor quinoxaline/thiophene alternating conducting polymers with a hole‐transporting moiety of carbazole as a side chain (PCPQT) has been designed, synthesized, and investigated. The UV–vis measurement of the charge‐transferred type PCPQTs of different molecular weights with low polydispersity exhibits a red shifting of their absorption maximum from 530 to 630 nm with increasing chain length (Mn: from 1100 to 19,200). The HOMO and LUMO energy levels of PCPQT can be determined from the cyclic voltammetry measurement to be −5.36 and −3.59 eV, respectively. Solar cells made from PCPQT/PCBM bulk heterojunction show a high open‐circuit voltage, Voc of ∼0.75 V, which is significantly higher than that of a solar cell made from conventional poly(3‐hexyl thiophene)/PCBM as the active polymer PCPQT has lower HOMO level. Further improvements are anticipated through a rational design of the new low band‐gap and the structurally two‐dimensional donor–acceptor conducting polymers. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 48: 1607–1616, 2010