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Photoresponsive Liquid Crystalline Polymers

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Liquid Crystalline Polymers

Part of the book series: Polymers and Polymeric Composites: A Reference Series ((POPOC))

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Abstract

Light is external stimuli which is clean and highly accessible and can be precisely manipulated. Due to the fascinating photoinduced changes from molecular to nano- and macroscopic scales, photoresponsive liquid crystalline polymers (LCPs) have attracted wide interests in the fields of stimuli-responsive materials, soft robotics, biomaterials, nanotechnology and photonic devices, and so on. This entry mainly focuses on the booming researches related to photoresponsive LCPs, especially azobenzene-containing LCPs. First, the definition and photochemical properties are clarified. Then, recent advances on intriguing light-responsive behaviors of azobenzene-containing LCPs are introduced in terms of homopolymers, block copolymers, crosslinked LC systems, composite LC systems, and supramolecular liquid crystalline polymers. These photoinduced behaviors include molecular cooperative motion, nanoscale self-assembled photocontrollable structures, and macroscale photo-driven 2D and 3D mechanical movements. Finally, the researches are summarized and the possible applications are proposed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Engineering and Key Laboratory of Polymer Chemistry and Physics of Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing, China

    Xiao Li & Haifeng Yu

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  1. Xiao Li
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  2. Haifeng Yu
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Correspondence to Haifeng Yu .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Macromolecular Science and Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA

    Lei Zhu

  2. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Christopher Y. Li

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Li, X., Yu, H. (2020). Photoresponsive Liquid Crystalline Polymers. In: Zhu, L., Li, C. (eds) Liquid Crystalline Polymers. Polymers and Polymeric Composites: A Reference Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-43350-5_60

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