0000000000171824
AUTHOR
Patrick Beyer
Photoswitchable Smectic Liquid-Crystalline Elastomers
We succeeded in the synthesis of azo side chain containing polysioxanes with broad smectic C* and A phases. In these polymers the phase transition temperatures can be shifted reversibly by up to 17°C by irradiation with UV (cis) or VIS (trans) light. Thin films of these polymers in the smectie phase (both on substrates and as free-standing films) orient perfectly in a homeotropic manner. As a consequence, the aze chromophores do no longer absorb during a perpendicular illumination with light (dichroism). It is thus possible to crosslink these films photochemically to prepare photoswitchable smectic LC elastomers.
Photoresponsive Ferroelectric Liquid-Crystalline Polymers
The photoresponse of ferroelectric smectic side-chain liquid-crystalline (LC) polymers containing a photoisomerizable azobenzene derivative as a covalently linked photochromic side group is investigated. By static measurements in different photostationary states, the effect of trans-cis isomerization on the material's phase-transition temperatures and its ferroelectric properties (spontaneous electric polarization Ps and director tilt angle 0) are analyzed. It turns out that the Curie temperature (transition S C * to S A ) can be reversibly shifted by up to 17 °C. The molecular mechanism of this "photoferroelectric effect" is studied in detail using time-resolved measurements of the dye's o…
(Photo)crosslinkable Smectic LC Main-Chain Polymers
This paper presents the synthetic route to SmA LC main-chain polymers, that can be (photo)-crosslinked without solvent in the bulk phase. They are based on soluble polymalonates, in which higher ordered phases can be suppressed by copolymerization with a laterally brominated biphenyl. Two routes were developed to incorporate the crosslinkable groups into the polyester backbone. The first consists in the incorporation of phenols into the polyester. These phenols are not reactive enough to participate in the transesterification reaction used to build up the polymer, but they can be esterified afterwards with acrylates. Thermally or photochemically created radicals then start the crosslinking.…
Monodomain Liquid Crystal Main Chain Elastomers by Photocrosslinking
A new synthetic strategy for the preparation of macroscopically oriented smectic main chain liquid crystal elastomers (MC-LCE) by the photocrosslinking of laterally functionalized polyesters is presented. X-ray measurements proved the formation of the monodomain and allowed a quantitative determination of the order parameter. The thermo-actuation of our material at the phase transition from the liquid-crystalline to the isotropic phase was demonstrated by temperature dependent measurements of the sample length, showing a fully reversible shape change of � 40%. Mechanical measurements showed that the sample can be stretched by up to 60% along the smectic layer normal without any reorientatio…