Photoinduced plasticity in cross-linked liquid crystalline networks

M.K. McBride, M. Hendrikx, D. Liu, B.T. Worrell, D.J. Broer, C.N. Bowman

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

107 Citations (Scopus)
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Abstract

Photoactivated reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT)-based dynamic covalent chemistry is incorporated into liquid crystalline networks (LCNs) to facilitate spatiotemporal control of alignment, domain structure, and birefringence. The RAFT-based bond exchange process, which leads to stress relaxation, is used in a variety of conditions, to enable the LCN to achieve a near-equilibrium structure and orientation upon irradiation. Once formed, and in the absence of subsequent triggering of the RAFT process, the (dis)order in the LCN and its associated birefringence are evidenced at all temperatures. Using this approach, the birefringence, including the formation of spatially patterned birefringent elements and surface-active topographical features, is selectively tuned by adjusting the light dose, temperature, and cross-linking density.

Original languageEnglish
Article number1606509
Number of pages6
JournalAdvanced Materials
Volume29
Issue number17
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 3 May 2017

Keywords

  • adaptable networks
  • liquid crystalline networks
  • photoinduced plasticity
  • reversible-addition fragmentation chain-transfer

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