화학공학소재연구정보센터
Molecular Crystals and Liquid Crystals, Vol.409, 111-117, 2004
Photochemical manipulation of glycerol droplets in nematic liquid crystals
Dynamic manipulation of glycerol droplets could be achieved by light in azobenzenedoped nematic liquid crystals. On irradiation of UV light, the trans-cis photoisomerization drives a directional motion of the droplets towards the cis-rich region and assembled close-packed two-dimensional hexagonal colloidal crystals. This behavior is mainly attributable to reduction of the droplet-LC interfacial tension, associated with the enhanced surface-activity of cis isomers. We also performed photochemical assembly of tailored droplet arrays by projection of computer-generated images on the samples. The photoinduced manipulation of droplets will provide a versatile approach to micro-structuring of LC devices.