Control of Molecular Orientation in Liquid-Crystalline Polymer particles by Dispersion Polymerization

Abstract

Controlling method of molecular orientation in liquid-crystalline polymer (LCP) is important to develop the functional soft-materials. We achieved fabricating chiral-nematic LCP microparticles by dispersion polymerization and controlling molecular orientation. In this study, we reveal the formation mechanism of the monodomain orientation of LCP over several μm3. From various experiments, we expected that the molecular orientation was determined during the nucleation-growth process in polymer precipitation system of dispersion polymerization. The detailed formation mechanism of molecular orientation will be discussed.