Self-Assembled Structural Colloids of Nematic Liquid Crystal Polymer and Elastomer

ORAL

Abstract

Self-organized nematic liquid crystal polymer (NLCP) microstructures and corresponding cross-linked liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) microstructures were fabricated and investigated. The NLCP structures were generated by temperature quenching of LCP droplets. The drops then evolved morphologically into rough spheres, flower-shaped drops, and filaments with sub-micron diameters. The control parameters dictating the final morphologies include temperature, pre-polymer chain length, and surfactant concentration in the aqueous background. Interestingly, the morphologies varied reversibly with temperature cycling. Finally, useful target morphologies were photo-crosslinked to make LCEs with well-maintained director fields and smooth surfaces. The schemes thus introduce a novel procedure for synthesizing LCE fibers.

*This work is supported by NSF DMR16-07378, PENN MRSEC Grant DMR-1720530, and NASA Grant NNX08AO0G.

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Presenters

  • Wei-Shao Wei

    • University of Pennsylvania, Department of Physics and Astronomy & LRSM
    • Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania

Authors

  • Wei-Shao Wei

    • University of Pennsylvania, Department of Physics and Astronomy & LRSM
    • Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania

  • Yu Xia

    • University of Pennsylvania, Department of Materials Science and Engineering
    • Materials Science and Engineering, University of Pennsylvania

  • Sophie Ettinger

    • University of Pennsylvania, Department of Physics and Astronomy & LRSM

  • Shu Yang

    • University of Pennsylvania, Department of Materials Science and Engineering
    • University of Pennsylvania
    • Materials Science and Engineering, University of Pennsylvania

  • A. G. Yodh

    • University of Pennsylvania, Department of Physics and Astronomy & LRSM
    • Physics , University of Pennsylvania
    • UPENN