Abstract
This study demonstrates liquid crystal (LC) alignment behaviors on the surface of phytochemical-based and renewable chavicol-modified polystyrene (PCHA#, # = 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100, where # represent the molar content of chavicol moiety in the side group) via polymer modification reactions. Generally, a LC cell fabricated with a polymer film containing a high molar content of the chavicol side group exhibited a vertical LC alignment property. There is a correlation between the vertical alignment of LC molecules and the polar surface energy value of the polymer films. Therefore, vertical LC alignment was observed when the polar surface energy values of these polymer films were smaller than about 1.3 mJ/m2, induced by the nonpolar chavicol moiety having long and bulky carbon groups. Aligning stability under harsh conditions such as ultraviolet (UV) irradiation of about 5 J/cm2 was observed in the LC cells fabricated from PCHA100 film. Therefore, it was found that the plant-based chavicol-substituted polymer system can produce an eco-friendly and sustainable LC alignment layer for next-generation applications.
Highlights
Polymers 2021, 13, 819. https://Liquid crystal (LC) molecules are beneficial organic materials with an intermediate phase between crystalline solids and isotropic liquids because of their crystal-like ordering and fluidity [1]
The vertical liquid crystal (LC) alignment behavior was examined for the LC cells made from the polymer films having chavicol side group content larger than 60 mol% (PCHA60, PCHA80, and PCHA100)
The LC cells fabricated with the polymer films having chavicol units larger plant-based chavicol-modified polystyrene was synthesized in than A
Summary
Liquid crystal (LC) molecules are beneficial organic materials with an intermediate phase between crystalline solids and isotropic liquids because of their crystal-like ordering and fluidity [1]. LC molecules are readily responsive to external stimuli such as electric, magnetic fields, and surface interaction, contributing to their rheological behaviors and anisotropic physical properties [2,3]. Their interesting features allow them to be used in numerous applications such as electro-optical components, responsive sensors, and biological applications [4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19]. The optical and electrical properties of the LC cells fabricated from the polymer films were determined
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