Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T17:04:13.601Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Novel Polymer Patterning Method based on Pattern Forming States of Liquid Crystals as Templates

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2011

Shin-Woong Kang ,
Samuel Sprunt  and
Liang-Chy Chien
Shin-Woong Kang
Affiliation:
Liquid Crystal Institute and Department of Chemical Physics, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242, U.S.A.
Samuel Sprunt
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242, U.S.A.
Liang-Chy Chien
Affiliation:
Liquid Crystal Institute and Department of Chemical Physics, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242, U.S.A.
Get access

Abstract

We describe a new polymer patterning technique that produces controllable morphological and optical anisotropy in a polymer network. This technique is based on the use of pattern-forming states of nematic and cholesteric liquid crystals as templates for forming ordered polymer networks. One and two-dimensional optical patterns are induced by applying an electric field across a narrow gap of an electro-optical cell. These field-induced optical patterns are then stabilized by UV-induced polymerization of a typically 5 wt% reactive monomer in liquid crystal host. Depending on specific conditions (e.g., thickness to pitch ratio of a cholesteric, applied electric field, and wavelength of UV illumination), the polymer captures various degrees of the orientational order and spatial periodicity of the pattern-forming states of liquid crystals. The fidelity of the templating effect is explored using polarizing optical microscopy and SEM. We also describe the effect of UV wavelength on the network morphology and the morphological control over the”third” dimension (normal to the cell substrates).

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 709: Symposium CC – Advances in Liquid Crystalline Materials and Technologies , 2001 , CC6.3.1
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2002

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1. Bowden, M. J.,”Polymer for Electronics and Photonic Applications”, Electronic and PhotonicApplication of Polymers, ed. Bowden, M. J. and Turner, S. R. (American Chemical Society, 1988) pp.1–73.Google Scholar
2. Xia, Y. and Whitesides, G. M., Annu. Rev. Mater. Sci. 28, 153 (1998).Google Scholar
3. Chen, J. T., Thomas, E. L., Ober, C. K. and Mao, G.-p. and Science, 273, 343 (1996).Google Scholar
4. Edrington, A. C., et al, Adv. Mater. 13, 421 (2001).Google Scholar
5. Bowden, N., Brittain, S., Evans, A. G., Hutchinson, J. W. and Whitesides, G. M., Nature, 393, 146 (1998).Google Scholar
6. Gover, L. V., Bashmakov, I. A., Kiebooms, R., Dyakonov, V. and Parisi, J., Adv. Mater. 13, 588 (2001).Google Scholar
7. Broer, B. de, Stalmach, U., Nijland, H. and Hadziioannou, G., Adv. Mater. 12, 1581 (2000).Google Scholar
8. Lee, S.N., Sprunt, S., Chien, L.-C. and Appl. Phys. Lett. 72, 885, (1998).Google Scholar
9. Kang, S. W., Sprunt, S., Chien, L.-C. and Appl. Phys. Lett. 76, 3516, (2000).Google Scholar
10. Kang, S. W., Sprunt, S., Chien, L.-C. and Appl. Phys. Lett. 78, 3782, (2001).Google Scholar
11. Kang, S. W., Sprunt, S., Chien, L.-C. and Adv. Mater. 13, 1179 (2001).Google Scholar
12. Lee, S.N., Sprunt, S., Chien, L.-C. and Liq. Cryst. 28, 637, (2001).Google Scholar
13. Blinov, L. M., Chigrinov, V. G. Eds., Electrooptic Effects in Liquid Crystal Materials, (Springer-Verlag, New York, 1994) pp. 235–367.Google Scholar
14. Gennes, P. G. De, Prost, J. Eds., The Physics of Liquid Crystal, (Oxford, New-York, 1993) pp. 198–336.Google Scholar