Light-Driven Liquid Crystalline Materials: From Photo-Induced Phase Transitions and Property Modulations to Applications

Light-driven phenomena both in living systems and nonliving materials have enabled truly fascinating and incredible dynamic architectures with terrific forms and functions. Recently, liquid crystalline materials endowed with photoresponsive capability have emerged as enticing systems. In this Review, we focus on the developments of light-driven liquid crystalline materials containing photochromic components over the past decade. Design and synthesis of photochromic liquid crystals (LCs), photoinduced phase transitions in LC, and photoalignment and photoorientation of LCs have been covered. Photomodulation of pitch, polarization, lattice constant and handedness inversion of chiral LCs is discussed. Light-driven…

• UD
  U.S. Department of Defense

  Award: FA9550-12-1-0037
• UD
  U.S. Department of Energy

  Award: DE-SC0001412
• NA
  National Aeronautics and Space Administration
• UA
  U.S. Army
• DO
  Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships

  Award: IIP 0750379
• AF
  Air Force Office of Scientific Research

  Awards: FA9950-09-1-0193, FA9950-09-1-0254
• AF
  Air Force Research Laboratory