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- Title
Well-Defined Pillararene-Based Azobenzene Liquid Crystalline Photoresponsive Materials and Their Thin Films with Photomodulated Surfaces.
- Authors
Pan, Shi; Ni, Mengfei; Mu, Bin; Li, Qian; Hu, Xiao‐Yu; Lin, Chen; Chen, Dongzhong; Wang, Leyong
- Abstract
Photoresponsive materials (PRMs) have long been a hot topic and photo-modulated smart surface is very appealing. Particularly, liquid crystalline PRMs are able to amplify and stabilize photoinduced orientation thanks to their self-assembling and ordering characteristics. Herein, the first pillararene-based azobenzene liquid crystalline PRM with well-defined structure is presented, which can avoid the usually ill-defined composition drawback of polymer PRMs and prevent the severe H-aggregation from suppressing or even completely blocking photoresponse in simple azobenzene derivatives. The pillar[5]arene-based macrocyclic azobenzenes with variant length spacers show wide temperature range smectic liquid crystalline mesophases and excellent film-formation property. The tubular pillar[5]arene macrocyclic framework provides sufficient free volume for azobenzene moieties to achieve reversible photoisomerization and photoalignment; thus, their thin films demonstrate excellent light-triggered modulation of surface free energy, wettability, and even photoalignment-mediated orientation of an upper layer discotic liquid crystal columnar mesophase. Such pillararene-based azobenzene liquid crystals represent novel and promising PRMs with extensive fascinating applications.
- Subjects
AZOBENZENE derivatives; LIQUID crystal films; THIN films; LIGHT modulators; MESOPHASES; PHOTOISOMERIZATION
- Publication
Advanced Functional Materials, 2015, Vol 25, Issue 23, p3571
- ISSN
1616-301X
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1002/adfm.201500942