Abstract
Rational molecular design and processing, enabling large-area molecular ordering, are important for creating high-performance organic materials and devices. We show that, upon one-step hot pressing with uniaxially stretched Teflon sheets, a polymer brush carrying azobenzene-containing mesogenic side chains self-assembles into a free-standing film, where the polymer backbone aligns homeotropically to the film plane, and the side chains align horizontally. Such an ordered structure forms through translation of a one-dimensional molecular order of the Teflon sheet and propagates from the interface macroscopically on both sides of the film. The resultant wide-area bimorph configuration allows the polymer film to bend rapidly and reversibly when the azobenzene units are photoisomerized. The combination of polymer brushes with hot pressing and Teflon sheets provides many possibilities in designing functional soft materials.
