Photoresponsive Behavior of Photomobile Materials with Different Mesogens

Abstract

In conventional photomobile polymer materials, aromatic rings such as azobenzene and phenyl benzoate have been used as mesogens. On the other hand, liquid crystal displays are composed of various liquid crystal molecules, and the characteristics change depending on their structures. Thus, we expected that photoresponsive behavior can be controlled by selecting molecular structures properly. In this study, we prepared two types of photomobile polymer materials with different side chains and evaluated their photoresponsive behavior at room temperature and 77 K (in liquid nitrogen).