Shaping monodispersed azo molecular glass microspheres using polarized light

Azo molecular glass (IAC-4) microspheres with a monodispersed diameter over ten microns were fabricated by microfluidics and unique shape manipulation was achieved based on their fascinating photoinduced deformation behaviour. After irradiation with a polarized laser beam (λ = 488 nm), the IAC-4 microspheres were transformed into uniform mushroom-like particles, and their three-dimensional (3D) asymmetric shapes were precisely manipulated by adjusting the irradiation time and the polarization state of light. By observing the particle morphology in three orthogonal views (top view, front view and side view) by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), the photoinduced deformation behaviour of the ten-micron-sized particles was comprehensively revealed in the 3D space for the first time. It was observed that the photoinduced deformation asymmetrically occurred on the upper part of the microspheres due to the strong optical absorption of the azo chromophores. Besides, the deformation manner of the upper part was decided by the direction of the electric vibration of the refracted light. This work not only depicts a clear picture of the photoinduced deformation behaviour of the ten-micron-sized azo particles upon polarized light irradiation, but also provides a new method to controllably manipulate the particle shape from spheres to complex 3D architectures.