Dual Photo‐functionalized Amphiphile for Photo‐reversible Liquid Crystal Alignments

Abstract

Without the conventional polymer-based liquid crystal (LC) alignment process, a newly synthesized dual photo-functionalized amphiphile (abbreviated as ADMA1 ) was successfully applied as a robust photo-reversible LC alignment layer by self-assembly and photo-polymerization. The LC alignment layer constructed by directly adding dual photo-functionalized amphiphiles into LC media significantly cuts the manufacturing cost as well as opens new doors for the fabrication of novel electro-optical devices.

Asymmetric Fullerene Nanosurfactant: Interface Engineering for Automatic Molecular Alignments

“…The root‐mean‐square roughness of the nanosized continuous layer is about 2.87 nm (Figure d). Since the calculated geometric length of C 60 NS along the long axis was about 3.14 nm, this result indicated that nanosurfactant was assembled into monolayers, as additionally confirmed by water contact angle (WCA) measurements . The bare ITO‐coated substrate showed a WCA of 79.4°, whereas that of C 60 NS film equaled 96.8°, suggesting the formation of a hydrophobic layer (Figure S14, Supporting Information).…”

Light responsive liquid crystal soft matters: structures, properties, and applications

“…If the LC can be prepared by chemically or physically connecting the photochromic group, these photochromic LC molecules can be applied to the remotely controllable materials [20]. The azobenzene chromophore can be transformed between two isomers with different absorption spectra induced by photoirradiation [21]. Thus, photoisomerisation from trans-to-cis and cis-to-trans of the azobenzene leads to changes in the electronic as well as the geometrical structure of the molecules [22].…”

Reversible Photoresponsive Molecular Alignment of Liquid Crystals at Fluid Interfaces with Persistent Stability

“…For decades, reversible control of LC alignment has drawn particular attention as it plays a key role in the development of active switching components. It can be achieved by using an electrical field, a magnetic field, or light . Generally, LCs are always supported on functionalized solid surfaces or doped with functional materials to assist in realizing responses of LCs to external stimuli.…”

“…It can be achieved by using an electrical field, [4] am agnetic field, [5] or light. [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] Generally,L Cs are always supportedo n functionalized solid surfaces [6][7][8][9][10]16] or doped with functional materials [17] to assist in realizing responses of LCs to external stimuli.R ecently,r eversible control of the alignment of LCs has also been reported at fluid interfaces. [18][19][20][21] For example, Kinsingere tal.…”