1. Well-Defined Pillararene-Based Azobenzene Liquid Crystalline Photoresponsive Materials and Their Thin Films with Photomodulated Surfaces.
- Author
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Pan, Shi, Ni, Mengfei, Mu, Bin, Li, Qian, Hu, Xiao‐Yu, Lin, Chen, Chen, Dongzhong, and Wang, Leyong
- Subjects
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AZOBENZENE derivatives , *LIQUID crystal films , *THIN films , *LIGHT modulators , *MESOPHASES , *PHOTOISOMERIZATION - 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2015
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