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Stretchable liquid-crystal blue-phase gels

Nature Materials volume 13, pages 817–821 (2014)Cite this article

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Abstract

Liquid-crystalline polymers are materials of considerable scientific interest and technological value1,2,3. An important subset of these materials exhibit rubber-like elasticity, combining the optical properties of liquid crystals with the mechanical properties of rubber. Moreover, they exhibit behaviour not seen in either type of material independently2, and many of their properties depend crucially on the particular mesophase employed. Such stretchable liquid-crystalline polymers have previously been demonstrated in the nematic, chiral-nematic, and smectic mesophases2,4. Here, we report the fabrication of a stretchable gel of blue phase I, which forms a self-assembled, three-dimensional photonic crystal that remains electro-optically switchable under a moderate applied voltage, and whose optical properties can be manipulated by an applied strain. We also find that, unlike its undistorted counterpart, a mechanically deformed blue phase exhibits a Pockels electro-optic effect, which sets out new theoretical challenges and possibilities for low-voltage electro-optic devices.

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Figure 1: Free-standing films of a blue-phase gel.
Figure 2: Colour changes in a stretchable blue-phase gel.
Figure 3: Electro-optics of a distorted blue-phase gel.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council UK under the COSMOS project (grants EP/D04894X/1 and EP/H046658/1), and by the Defence Science & Technology Laboratory UK. We thank A. Lorenz, J. Montelongo, D. Gardiner, K. Knowles and L. Tian for useful discussions, and H. Hasebe (DIC Corp., Japan) for supplying the material UCL-011-K1. S.M.M. acknowledges The Royal Society for financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Engineering, Centre of Molecular Materials for Photonics and Electronics, University of Cambridge, 9 JJ Thomson Avenue Cambridge CB3 0FA, UK,

    F. Castles, S. M. Morris, J. M. C. Hung, M. M. Qasim, A. D. Wright, S. Nosheen, S. S. Choi, T. D. Wilkinson & H. J. Coles

  2. Department of Materials, University of Oxford, Parks Road Oxford OX1 3PH, UK,

    F. Castles

  3. Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Parks Road Oxford OX1 3PJ, UK,

    S. M. Morris, B. I. Outram & S. J. Elston

  4. Defence Science & Technology Laboratory, Porton Down Salisbury SP4 0JQ, UK,

    C. Burgess & L. Hill

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  1. F. Castles
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Contributions

H.J.C. and F.C. conceived the idea. F.C., J.M.C.H., A.D.W. and S.S.C. developed the fabrication process and produced samples. F.C. carried out the experiments in the Cambridge laboratories and took the reported data. B.I.O. carried out the repeat electro-optic experiment in the Oxford laboratories. F.C. discovered the Pockels effect in distorted samples. F.C., S.J.E., B.I.O and S.M.M. interpreted the data. M.M.Q. and S.N. synthesized the bimesogenic materials. T.D.W., L.H. and C.B. supplied equipment and were collaborators on the project. S.M.M. and H.J.C. informed and directed the research. F.C. wrote the paper in collaboration with all the authors.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to F. Castles, S. M. Morris or H. J. Coles.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Castles, F., Morris, S., Hung, J. et al. Stretchable liquid-crystal blue-phase gels. Nature Mater 13, 817–821 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3993

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