Surface-induced structure formation of polymer dispersed liquid crystals on chemically patterned substrate

POLY 474

Zhiqun Lin, zqlin@iastate.edu1, Jun Wang1, Jianfeng Xia2, Suck Won Hong2, Feng Qiu3, and Yuliang Yang3. (1) Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Iowa State University, 3161 Gilman Hall, Ames, IA 50011, (2) Materials Science and Engineering, Iowa State University, 3161 Gilman Hall, Ames, IA 50011, (3) Macromolecular Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, China
We report the formation of ordered structures in a polymer dispersed liquid crystals (PDLC) film by allowing polymer and LC to phase separate on a chemically patterned substrate. The patterns on the substrate were successfully transferred to the PDLC film, resulting in alternating LC rich phase and polymer rich phase as confirmed by polarized optical microscope and confocal Raman measurements. A unique surface-induced phase separation kinetics was observed for the first time. The time evolutions of the size, number, and total area of LC domains were quantified. This simple approach offers a new means to organize micrometer-sized LC domains into well-ordered structures in polymer matrix of PDLC.
 

Polymers and Liquid Crystals
6:00 PM-8:00 PM, Tuesday, August 21, 2007 BCEC -- Exhibit Hall - B2, Poster

Division of Polymer Chemistry

The 234th ACS National Meeting, Boston, MA, August 19-23, 2007