In situ prepared polymer films as alignment layers for nematic liquid crystals

Abstract

By means of UV-visible irradiations and convenient photoinitiators, we realize the cross-linked polymerization of a triacrylate monomer in solution in a nematic liquid crystal (p-pentyl-p′-cyanobiphenyl) at low concentrations (a few wt %), i.e., under conditions opposite to the synthesis of polymer-dispersed liquid crystals. As atomic force microscope measurements show, when operating close to, but below, the percolation transition, a thin polymer layer is synthesized in situ, directly covering and coating all the substrate. These observations therefore confirm that the properties of anchoring and of alignment memory previously observed in such nematic cells effectively originate from the synthesized polymer film. According to the photoinitiator used, bulk or surface polymerizations dominate and respectively produce continuous or discontinuous films (i.e., with separate clusters). In the former case, polymer aggregates are first synthesized. They then diffuse in the volume until they meet a surface, where they definitely stick if they are large enough. An estimate of the entropy and interaction energy differences between the two states, stuck or free, shows that the aggregates stick on the substrates if their size exceeds the length of about three monomers, i.e., if they contain more than 20–30 monomers. Interestingly, these films may be used to replicate nonuniform alignment patterns that are difficult to realize otherwise. The method may be considered as an imprinting method.