Area-selective Photodeformation Behavior of N-benzylideneaniline Liquid Crystalline Polymeric Films Prepared with Sublimed Crosslinker

Abstract

Photomobile materials exhibit deformed macroscopic shape in response to actinic lighting. We report the photoinduced macroscopic deformation behavior of a crosslinked liquid crystalline N-benzylideneaniline (NBA) film. The film is observed to bend toward the highly crosslinked surface upon exposure to UV light and revert to the initial shape when the light is turned off. In this study, we fabricated the crosslinker via vapor deposition to enlarge the nonuniformity of NBA moieties along a direction normal to the plane of the film. Furthermore, we demonstrated the area-selective bending behavior caused by the local formation of NBA-crosslinking points. The film bent toward the highly crosslinked surface, similar to a previous top-coating film. The change in shape was large enough to be observed with the naked eye.