盘状液晶材料的研究进展

盘状液晶分子容易形成柱状堆积的超分子组装体, 由于分子在液晶态具有一定的流动性, 使得组装体具有良好的结构缺陷自修复功能. 因此具有特定芳香共轭结构的盘状液晶分子可以呈现较高的导电特性, 能够有效传输电荷, 具有制备光电器件的潜在应用价值. 本文主要介绍以苯环、苯并菲、六苯并蔻、苝和肽菁为中心核的盘状液晶材料, 其分子结构的化学修饰对液晶性能的影响, 液晶材料在有机发光二极管(OLED)、有机场效应晶体管(OFET)和太阳能电池器件中的应用, 以及盘状液晶材料相关的动力学研究进展.     

胆甾相液晶螺旋方向的光调控

光响应胆甾相液晶是一类在光刺激下通过改变液晶分子排列调控光学特性的智能“软”光子晶体材料,其分子自组装形成周期性螺旋结构,选择性地反射与自身螺旋方向相同的圆偏振光。近年来,利用光刺激诱导胆甾相液晶在左手螺旋和右手螺旋之间发生螺旋翻转的研究引起了广泛关注。胆甾相液晶的螺旋翻转能够改变反射光的圆偏振特性,有望拓展光子晶体材料在可调节滤光器、防伪与加密技术、圆偏振激光器、三维显示等领域的潜在应用。本综述重点关注光响应胆甾相液晶螺旋翻转的研究进展;总结了调控胆甾相液晶螺旋方向的两种主要策略：(1)直接引入螺旋性可逆转变的光响应手性分子开关,(2)利用光响应手性分子开关和与之螺旋性相反的手性掺杂剂之间的手性竞争;分析了分子空间构型转变对调控螺旋翻转程度的影响;并讨论了不同材料体系面临的挑战以及未来的发展方向。     

智能响应蓝相液晶光子晶体

具有刺激响应性的智能驱动材料已成为材料科学领域的研究热点之一。液晶的超分子自组装结构与其刺激响应特性使其在新型智能功能材料的开发应用上具有天然优势。蓝相液晶由于其独特的三维超分子自组装结构、软物质特性以及可见光波段的选择性光反射,被认为是最具潜力的智能光子晶体材料之一。在温度、光照、电场、湿度等外场刺激作用下,蓝相超分子自组装结构的晶体学参数或相态非常容易发生变化,造成光子带隙的改变进而呈现出反射颜色的变化。因此,蓝相的外场响应性能及在智能材料上的应用引起了研究者的广泛关注。本文综述了智能响应蓝相液晶光子晶体外场响应性能方面的前沿动态,对蓝相液晶光子晶体的光、磁、电、力、湿度响应等方面取得的系列重要的研究成果进行了总结,并对该领域目前存在的挑战以及未来发展趋势做出展望。     

一种新型的氢键自组装液晶光控取向膜

报道了一种新型的以氢键为驱动力的液晶自组装光控取向膜, 研究了薄膜的制备方法与光敏特性. 通过聚(4-乙烯基吡啶)中的吡啶基团与光敏聚丙烯酰氧基肉桂酸间的氢键作用制备了LBL(layer-by-layer)型的自组装多层膜, 制备过程的紫外-可见光谱表明, 该组装过程为逐层、均匀沉积过程. 傅里叶变换红外光谱表明, 多层膜的成膜驱动力为氢键. 用线性偏振紫外光辐照该薄膜, 多层膜中与光矢量方向匹配的光敏基团发生[2+2]环加成反应, 形成表面张力各向异性的薄膜. 用该薄膜作为向列相液晶的取向膜制成平行液晶器件, 在偏光显微镜下观察, 发现获得了均一、稳定的取向效果.     

三维自组装蓝相液晶光子晶体

蓝相液晶由于其独特的三维自组装结构、可见光波段的选择性光反射性能和软物质特性,被认为是最具发展潜力的可调三维光子晶体材料之一,在下一代超快响应显示、反射型显示、可调激光器和光通信等领域具有广阔的应用前景。本文综述了近年来蓝相液晶自组装结构的研究进展,包括蓝相的多级自组装三维微纳结构及子相相变行为的最新研究,通过基板表面取向处理或纳米图案化诱导、电场诱导、热处理诱导等方法控制蓝相自组装行为和三维周期性晶体结构的研究现状,以及蓝相光子晶体材料在可调谐激光器、可调光栅等光学器件领域的应用研究,最后对该领域的目前存在的挑战和未来发展方向进行了展望。     

腰接型侧链液晶弹性体研究进展

液晶弹性体是交联型液晶大分子,兼具液晶取向有序性和交联聚合物熵弹性等特性,在传感器、触发器、微流体装置和仿生器件等方面具有很好的应用前景.制备液晶弹性体的微结构,探索其独特的刺激响应性,是目前液晶弹性体研究的重要方向.侧链液晶弹性体的液晶相态类型取决于其液晶基元和主链的连接方式.腰接型侧链液晶弹性体倾向于形成向列型液晶相,具有较快的响应速度和形变程度,是一类独特的液晶弹性体.本文重点介绍腰接型液晶弹性体微结构(如微米柱、微米线等)的制备;利用金纳米粒子的光热转换效应,实现液晶弹性体光响应性的新途径;以及腰接型侧链液晶弹性体仿生微结构的功能性等.同时还对该领域的发展前景进行了展望.     

基于G-四联体的聚多肽-DNA水凝胶响应性研究

利用铜催化的点击反应合成了侧链接枝DNA的聚多肽, 基于DNA自组装的理念, 将含有两段鸟嘌呤(G)的序列引入到体系中, 结合G-四联体在钾离子存在的情况下能够形成分子间四链结构的特性, 获得了具有热响应和离子响应性的聚多肽-DNA超分子水凝胶. 此凝胶制备过程具有原位、快速等特点, 构筑基元具有可设计的响应性和良好的生物相容性. 综合以上特点, 此超分子水凝胶在组织工程和三维生物打印等领域具有潜在的应用.     

基于液晶取向变化检测有机胺化合物的方法

采用旋涂法在玻璃基底表面制备4-三乙氧基硅基丁腈有机膜.有机膜表面采用丝绒布进行摩擦和5％乙酸水溶液改性处理后成为特异敏感膜.将此敏感膜的载玻片面对面贴合后,在其间组装液晶E7分子膜,表征液晶分子排列状态;采用挥发法在敏感膜表面组装液晶膜,制备成了检测目标物的复合材料.采用此种材料对甲胺、乙胺和二乙胺等有机胺化合物及实验室常见干扰气体进行检测,发现只有有机胺化合物会对材料的液晶分子排列状态产生影响,导致液晶膜的亮度发生改变,从而实现对目标物的特异检测.对有机胺化合物检测过程中,其响应速率为V甲胺＜V乙胺＜V二乙胺,恢复速率为:V乙胺＜V乙胺＜V甲胺;刘乙胺的检出限为0.46 mg/m3.本方法具有较高的检测灵敏度,抗干扰能力较强且操作简单,可发展为现场检测有机胺化合物的新技术.     

液晶自组装多层级结构及其应用

液晶的分层组装与刺激响应特性使其在先进功能材料的开发与应用领域具有独特的优势.通过特定的技术手段诱导其自组装行为,可带来新奇的光学、机械、电磁等性能,进而实现一系列全新的技术应用.本文主要针对近晶相、胆甾相、蓝相这三种特殊的液晶相态,系统介绍了多形态焦锥畴结构,分层油纹,螺旋结构,双螺旋扭曲柱立方晶格等多层级结构,重点论述了材料组分优化,几何结构限制以及外场激励等条件下液晶多层级结构的大面积精细操控,回顾了其在粒子操控、表面改性、光子技术等领域的相关技术应用,并总结展望了液晶组装技术与应用的发展前景.     

光致形变液晶高分子

交联液晶高分子兼具液晶的各向异性和高分子网络的弹性,并且具有优异的分子协同作用.在交联液晶高分子中引入光响应基团,例如偶氮苯后,即可赋予其光致形变性能,利用分子协同作用可以将光化学反应引起的分子结构变化放大为宏观形变,从而将光能直接转化成机械能.通过合理的分子结构和取向设计可以使液晶高分子产生诸如伸缩、弯曲、扭曲、振动等多种形式的光致形变,并用于各类光控柔性执行器件的构筑,在人工肌肉、微型机器人、微量液体操控等领域呈现出独特的优势和广阔的应用前景.本文总结和评述了光致形变液晶高分子的研究,包括材料结构对光致形变性能的影响、新型可加工光致形变材料的研究、利用可见光和近红外光触发形变的策略,以及光致形变液晶高分子微执行器在微量液体操控中的应用,最后展望了该领域的发展方向.     

Liquid-crystalline physical gels

Liquid-crystalline (LC) physical gels are a new class of dynamically functional materials consisting of liquid crystals and fibrous aggregates of molecules that are called "gelators". Liquid-crystalline physical gels, which are macroscopically soft solids, exhibit induced or enhanced electro-optical, photochemical, electronic properties due to the combination of two components that form phase-separated structures. In this tutorial review, we describe the materials design and structure-property relationships of the LC physical gels. The introduction of self-assembled fibers into nematic liquid crystals leads to faster responses in twisted nematic (TN) mode and high contrast switching in light scattering mode. Furthermore, the LC physical gels can be exploited as a new type of materials for electro-optical memory. This function is achieved by the control of reversible aggregation processes of gelators under electric fields in nematic liquid crystals. Electronic properties such as hole mobilities are improved by the introduction of fibrous aggregates into triphenylene-based columnar liquid crystals. The incorporation of photochromic azobenzenes or electroactive tetrathiafulvalenes into the chemical structures of gelators leads to the preparation of ordered functional materials.     

Effect of the structure of gelators on electro-optical properties of liquid crystal physical gels

Low molecular mass organic gelator (LMOG) as an important component of liquid crystal physical gel has a great influence on the electro-optical properties. In this paper, three analogues of amide gelator were synthesized and employed as LMOGs in nematic liquid crystal 5CB. Both hydrogen-bonding and pi-pi-stacking interactions in the gel phase were found to stabilize the self-assembled structure. It was observed that the morphology was highly dependent on the crystallinity of gelators, which was affected by the intensity of hydrogen bonding. The thicker fibril was obtained with higher crystallinity of LMOG, while the thinner fibril was obtained with lower crystallinity. Moreover, the electro-optical properties of liquid crystal physical gels were proposed to be related to the interaction between the fibrils and the liquid crystal molecules.     

利用聚乙烯醇结晶辅助制备多重交联的高强度聚丙烯酰胺水凝胶

在表面带有C=C双键的乙烯基杂化二氧化硅纳米颗粒(vinyl hybrid silica nanoparticle,VSNP)上接枝丙烯酰胺(AM),所得到的纳米刷状凝胶因子通过聚丙烯酰胺(PAM)间的氢键形成物理交联点,则多官能化的VSNP可作为拟共价交联点构筑双重交联的单一网络纳米复合物理水凝胶(nanocomposite physical hydrogel,NCP gel),表现出较高的强度和超拉伸性.为了进一步提高凝胶的强度和韧性,将少量PVA和PAM/VSNP纳米刷混合制成凝胶,通过冷冻-融化处理,使与PAM分子链相互缠绕并形成氢键作用的PVA结晶,形成新的交联点进一步交联PAM NCP gel,得到多交联的PAM NCP gel体系.通过拉曼光谱和示差扫描量热分析,证明凝胶中的PVA通过氢键既可以与PAM相互作用,又形成微晶为新交联点,大大增强了NCP gel的力学性能,与PAM NCP gel相比,凝胶的拉伸强度和断裂能分别从313 k Pa和1.41×104 J/m~2提高到了557k Pa和4.65×104 J/m~2.     

Supramolecular gels formed from multi-component low molecular weight species

Low molecular weight supramolecular gels consist of small molecules (gelators) that in an appropriate solvent self-assemble into nano- or micro-scale network structures resulting in the formation of a gel. Most supramolecular gels consist of two parts, namely the solvent and the gelator. However, the concept of multi-component supramolecular gels, in which more than one compound is added to the solvent, offers a facile way (e.g. by changing the ratio of the different components) to tailor the properties of the gel. The simplest multi-component gels consist of two components added to the solvent and are the most widely studied to date. There are three general classes of such multi-component gels that have been investigated. The first class requires all the added components to access the gel; that is, no component forms a gel on its own. A second class uses two (or more) gelators which can either co-assemble or self-sort into distinct assemblies and the final class consists of one (or more) gelator and one (or more) non-gelling additive which can impact the assembly process of the gelator and therefore the gel's properties.     

Porphyrin gels reinforced by sol-gel reaction via the organogel phase

Porphyrins bearing four urea-linked dodecyl groups (3a) or four urea-linked triethoxysilylpropyl groups (3TEOS) at their peripheral positions were synthesized. 3a tends to assemble into a sheetlike two-dimensional structure due to the predominant hydrogen-bonding interaction among the urea groups and acts as a moderate gelator of organic solvents. On the other hand, its Cu(II) compelx (3a.Cu) tends to assemble into a fibrous one-dimensional structure due to the predominant porphyrin-porphyrin pi-pi stacking interaction and acts as an excellent gelator of many organic solvents. 3TEOS and 3TEOS.Cu, which also act as gelators, afforded similar superstructures as those of 3a and 3a.Cu, respectively, and as evidenced by SEM and TEM observations and XRD measurements, the original superstructures could be precisely immobilized by in situ sol-gel polycondensation of the triethoxysilyl groups. The TEM images of 3a gels and 3TEOS gels after sol-gel polycondensation showed a fine striped structure, the periodical distance of which was either 2 or 4 nm. X-ray crystallographic analysis of a single crystal obtained from a reference porphyrin bearing four urea-linked butyl groups revealed that there are two different porphyrin-stacked columns in the crystal and both the 2 nm distance and the 4 nm distance can appear, depending on the observation tilting angle. The hybrid gel prepared from 3TEOS.Cu by sol-gel polycondensation showed unique physicochemical properties such as a high sol-gel phase-transition temperature (>160 degrees C), sufficient elasticity, high mechanical strength, etc. Thus, the present study has established new concepts for molecular design of porphyrin-based gelators on the basis of cooperative and/or competitive actions of hydrogen-bonding and pi-pi stacking interactions and for immobilization of their superstructures leading to development of new functional organic/inorganic hybrid materials.     

Molecular mechanism of physical gelation of hydrocarbons by fatty acid amides of natural amino acids

A variety of fatty acid amides of different naturally occurring l-amino acids have been synthesized and they are found to form gels with various hydrocarbons. The gelation properties of these compounds were studied by a number of physical methods including FTIR spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, rheology, and it was found that gelation depended critically on the fatty acid chain length and the nature of the amino acid. Among them l-alanine based gelators were found to be the most efficient and versatile gelators as they self-assemble into a layered structure to form the gel network. Mechanisms for the assembly and formation of gels from these molecules are discussed.     

The remarkable role of hydrogen bond,halogen, and solvent effect on self-healing supramolecular gel

Self-healing supramolecular gels of low-molecular-weight (LMW) molecules are smart soft materials; however, the development of self-healing LMW gelator is still a challenging task because of the lack of in-depth studies about self-healing mechanisms of LMW gels and the solvent effect on gel properties. Therefore, herein a different perspective was used to study a family of D-gluconic acetal-based gelators with variable structural fragments in 14 different solvents, and a more detailed understanding of self-assembly and self-healing mechanism of supramolecular gels was attained. Based on the critical gelation concentration, phase transition temperature, and rheological data, A8 bearing an amide group in side chain and two chlorine atoms linked to benzene ring was found to be an outstanding gelator, which could form gels with good self-healing ability in a variety of solvents. Interestingly, A8 gel formed in n-BuOH demonstrates high transparency, good mechanical strength, self-supporting behavior, and great self-healing ability from mechanical damage. Based on the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and theoretical calculation analysis, the self-assembly and self-healing mechanisms of A8 gel were proposed, indicating that a combination of hydrogen bonding and halogen effect was responsible for the efficient self-healing behavior of supramolecular gel. Furthermore, the analysis of solvent parameters indicated that the dispersion force of solvent favored gelators to self-assemble, hydrogen bonding donor ability of solvent mainly affected the formation of one-dimensional assembly, and hydrogen bonding receptor ability and polarity of solvent mainly influenced the supramolecular interactions among assemblies, significantly intervening the self-healing ability of gels. Overall, this study provides a new perspective to the understanding of gelator structure–property correlation in solvents and sheds light for future development of self-healing supramolecular gels.     

Ferroelectric liquid crystal gels Network stabilized ferroelectric display

Liquid crystal (LC) mixtures of a reactive diacrylate and a commercial ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) mixture were produced. The mixtures were brought into cells provided with orientation layers in which various orientations such as uniaxial and twisted orientations, could be induced. When the desired orientation had been obtained, the polymerization of the reactive molecules was induced creating a three-dimensional anisotropic network containing the FLC molecules which were not chemically attached to the network (ferroelectric gels). The presence of the anisotropic network was found to have a large effect on various properties of the FLC molecules. For example, complex orientations (for example, 180° twisted) obtained by polymerization (formation of the gel) in the nematic phase remained unchanged when the gel was cooled to the FLC phase. Likewise uniaxial orientation, which cannot be realised in thick cells containing the pure FLC, could be realised when ferroelectric gels were used. For this reason the ferroelectric gels will be referred to as an anisotropic network-stabilized FLC. Optical properties such as effective birefringence and tilt angle were also influenced by the network. When use was made of a network with a lower birefringence than the FLC, a reduced effective birefringence in gels was observed. This is important for technologies involving thicker cells. The switching covered a range of voltages in the case of the gels, instead of showing a well-defined threshold voltage as in the bulk. The possibility of using this effect to obtain grey scales in cells during passive addressing has also been demonstrated.     

Visible Light and Temperature Regulated Reflection Colors in Self-supporting Cholesteric Liquid Crystal Physical Gels

Photo-responsive cholesteric liquid crystals (CLCs) have attracted much attention in recent years due to their wide applications in filters,tunable optical lasers,dynamic display devices,etc.However,UV light is usually used as the external stimulus source,which is not environment-friendly enough.On the other hand,the mechanical properties of CLCs are not strong enough for these practical applications.Therefore,it still remains a challenge to endow the CLCs with visible light response and high mechanical properties at the same time.Herein,an axially chiral tetra-fluorinated binaphthyl azobenzene gelator (S-4F-AG) is synthesized.Upon 550 and 450 nm light irradiations,S-4F-AG exhibits excellent photo-switchable behaviors.Notably,the maximum content of cis-isomer and its half-life are as high as 35％ and 89 h in acetonitrile,respectively.A self-supporting CLC physical gel with a storage modulus around 104 Pa can be obtained when 3wt％ S-4F-AG and 12wt％binaphthyl azobenzene derivative (dopant 2) are co-doped into a nematic LC host P0616A.This CLC physical gel exhibits a temperature-driven blue,green,and red reflection colors reversibly.Importantly,such three primary RGB colors can also be realized by adjusting the exposure time of 550 nm green light.This work lays a solid foundation for the applications ranging from information storage to high-tech anticounterfeit.     

Supramolecular Gels Derived from the Salts of Variously Substituted Phenylacetic Acid and Dicyclohexylamine: Design,Synthesis, Structures,and Dye Adsorption

A well‐studied supramolecular synthon, namely, secondary ammonium monocarboxylate (SAM), was exploited to generate a new series of organic salts derived from variously substituted phenylacetic acid and dicyclohexylamine as potential low‐molecular‐weight gelators. As much as 25 % of the SAM salts under study were gelators. The gels were characterized by rheology, and the morphology of the gel networks was studied by high‐resolution electron microscopy. Single‐crystal and powder XRD data were employed to study structure–property (gelation) correlations. One of the gels could adsorb a hydrophobic dye (Nile Red) more efficiently than that of a hydrophilic dye (Calcein) from dimethyl sulfoxide; this might provide useful clues towards the development of stain‐removing gels.