1. Key Laboratory of Bio-Inspired Smart Interfacial Science and Technology,Ministry of Education,School of Chemistry and Environment,Beihang University,Beijing 100191,China;2. Key Laboratory of Bio-Inspired Smart Interfacial Science and Technology,Ministry of Education,School of Chemistry and Environment,Beihang University,Beijing 100191,China;Key Laboratory of Micro-Nano Measurement-Manipulation and Physics,Ministry of Education,School of Physics and Nuclear Energy Engineering,Beihang University,Beijing 100191,China;3. Department of Advanced Materials & Nanotechnology,College of Engineering,Peking University,Beijing 100871,China
Abstract:
Manipulating the alignment of liquid crystals (LCs) is a hot and fundamental issue for their applications in block copolymers, photonics, actuators, biosensors, and liquid-crystal displays. Here, the surface characteristic of Cu2O nanocrystals was well controlled to manipulate the orientation of the LCs. The mechanism of the orientation of the LCs induced by Cu2O nanocrystals was elucidated based on the interaction between the LCs and Cu2O nanocrystals. To comprehensively prove our assumption, different types of LCs (nematic, cholesteric, and smectic) as well as the same type of LCs with different polarities were selected in our system. Moreover, the photomechanical behaviors of the LC polymer composites demonstrated that the alignment of LCs can be effectively manipulated using Cu2O nanocrystals.
