Phase-transition-induced dynamic surface wrinkle pattern on gradient photo-crosslinking liquid crystal elastomer

Tao Wen; Tianjiao Ma; Jie Qian; Zhaoxin Song; Xuesong Jiang; Yuan Yao

doi:10.1038/s41467-024-55180-3

Phase-transition-induced dynamic surface wrinkle pattern on gradient photo-crosslinking liquid crystal elastomer

Nat Commun. 2024 Dec 30;15(1):10821. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-55180-3.

Authors

Tao Wen^{1

2}, Tianjiao Ma³, Jie Qian², Zhaoxin Song⁴, Xuesong Jiang⁵, Yuan Yao⁶

Affiliations

¹ School of Materials Science and Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, China.
² School of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Frontiers Science Center for Transformative Molecules, State Key Laboratory for Metal Matrix Composite Materials, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
³ School of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Frontiers Science Center for Transformative Molecules, State Key Laboratory for Metal Matrix Composite Materials, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China. skn-08284869@sjtu.edu.cn.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Separation Membranes and Membrane Processes, School of Textile Science and Engineering, Tiangong University, Tianjin, China.
⁵ School of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Frontiers Science Center for Transformative Molecules, State Key Laboratory for Metal Matrix Composite Materials, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China. ponygle@sjtu.edu.cn.
⁶ School of Materials Science and Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, China. yaoyuan@ecust.edu.cn.

Abstract

Liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) with various deformation properties based on phase transition were widely used as actuators and provided potential to fabricate functional surfaces with tunable microstructure. Herein, we demonstrate a strategy to fabricate dynamic micro wrinkles on LCE surfaces based on LC phase transition. Stable micron-sized surface wrinkles on the anthracene-containing LCE film (AnLCE) are fabricated by ultraviolet exposure induced gradient cross-linking and subsequently stretching-releasing (UV-SR). The surface wrinkle is stabilized by the orientation of liquid crystal mesogens in the crosslinked top layer, while it can be erased by heating due to the isotropic phase-transition and recovered by stretching-releasing again. The dynamic natures cooperated with multi display modes under natural light, UV light and polarized light enable wrinkled AnLCE as a dynamic and multi-mode display platform. This strategy provide a path for modifying LCEs and regulating surface polarized images via wrinkling, which may be potential in soft sensors and optics, smart windows and anti-counterfeiting.

Abstract

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