Controlled Mesoscopic Growth of Polymeric Fibers Using Liquid Crystal Template.

Abstract

Orientation-controlled polymeric fiber is one of the most exciting research topics to rationalize the multi-functionality for various applications. In order to realize this goal, the growth of polymeric fibers should be controlled using various techniques like extrusion, molding, drawing, and self-assembly. Among the various candidates to fabricate the orientation-controlled polymeric fibers, the template-assisted assembly guided by a liquid crystal (LC) matrix is the most promising because the template can be manipulated easily with various methods like surface anchoring, rubbing, geometric confinement, and electric field. This review introduces the recent progress toward the directed growth of polymeric fibers using the LC template. Three representative LC-templated polymerization techniques to fabricate fibers include chemical or physical polymerization from the monomers mixed in LC matrix, patterned fibers formed from LC-templated reactive mesogens, and orientation-controlled nanofibers by infiltrating vaporized monomers between LC molecules. The orientation-controlled polymeric fibers will be used in electro-optical switching tools, tunable hydrophilic or hydrophobic surfaces, and control of phosphorescence, which can open a way to design, fabricate, and modulate nano- to micron-scale fibers with various functions on demand. This paper focuses on oriented polymeric fibers via the liquid crystal templating method. The stimuli-responsive characteristics and directional spacing of liquid crystal present a synthesis method of highly oriented fiber bundles. The paper has three sections according to the types of monomers: monomers without liquid crystallinity, reactive mesogens, and infiltrating vaporized monomers. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.