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Updated: Jun 1, 2026

Preparation of Monodomain Liquid Crystal Elastomers and Liquid Crystal Elastomer Nanocomposites
Published on: February 6, 2016
Surface properties and liquid crystal alignment behavior of poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) derivatives with alkyl
Eun-Ho Sohn1, Sung Hyun Kim, Mongryong Lee
1Materials Research Center for Information Display, Kyung Hee University, Yongin, Gyeonggi-do 446-701, Republic of Korea.
Abstract:
Poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) derivatives with amphiphilic side chains composed of polar ester and non-polar alkyl groups (PHEMA#C, #=9, 11, 13, 15, and 17), where # is the number of carbon atoms in the alkyl side groups, were synthesized. In this paper, the influence of ester and alkyl groups on the molecular structure and wettability of the polymers were studied through varying # in the alkyl side groups. PHEMA#Cs with relatively longer alkyl side groups (#≥15) show bilayer lamellar structures with well aligned side chains giving rise to the very low surface energies, calculated from advancing contact angles, in the range of 22.7-22.8 mN/m. In contrast, PHEMA#Cs with shorter alkyl side groups with #≤13 have disordered structures on the polymer surfaces and stick-slip behavior was observed when water was used as the test liquid for the advancing contact angle measurements. Furthermore, the alignment behavior of nematic liquid crystal, 5CB on the PHEMA#C films could be correlated with the molecular structure and wettability of the polymers.
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