Asymmetric Morphology Transformation of Azo Molecular Glass Microspheres Induced by Polarized Light

In this work, photoinduced asymmetric morphology transformation of a type of azo molecular glass microspheres was thoroughly investigated to understand the effects of controlling factors on the process, related mechanism and unique functions. The monodispersed microspheres with their sizes over ten microns were fabricated from an isosorbide-based azo compound (IAC-4) by microfluidics. Under irradiation with linearly polarized light, the ten-micron-scale microspheres were transformed into three-dimensional (3D) asymmetric particles through directional mass transfer. Microscopic observations and optics simulation were employed to investigate the morphology transformations. The results show that the penetration depth of light at different wavelengths plays an extremely important role to affect the asymmetric deformation behavior of the IAC-4 microspheres, which determines deformation region, deformation degree and final shapes of the particles. The light intensity (50-200 mW/cm²) is a less important factor, while the deformation rate of the light-penetrated part linearly increases with the intensity. When the light intensity varies in this range, the deformation degree and the final asymmetric morphology are determined by exposure energy (light intensity × irradiation time). The IAC-4 microspheres with different sizes show distinct morphology transformation behavior and the deformed particles possess different shapes, caused by the variation of volume fraction of the light-penetrated part in the microspheres. The increase in the ratio of the light-penetrated part to the total volume of the microspheres results in larger scale deformations. Based on the above understanding, asymmetric particles with various morphologies can be fabricated through a precisely controllable way. The asymmetric particles loaded on various surfaces show ability to render remarkable wetting anisotropy of water droplets on the substrates.