Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 15, 2025
10:33
An Electrochemical Cholesteric Liquid Crystalline Device for Quick and Low-Voltage Color Modulation
Published on: February 27, 2019
8.5K
Deformable Photonic Crystals Based on Chiral Liquid Crystals with Thermal-Mediative Shape Memory Effect
Min-Seok Park1, Kitae Kim2, Young-Joo Lee3
1Department of Electrical and Information Engineering, Seoul National University of Science and Technology, 232 Gongneung-ro, Nowon-gu, Seoul 01811, Republic of Korea.
Materials (Basel, Switzerland)
|January 8, 2023
Summary
Researchers developed a new photonic crystal material that changes color when deformed and returns to its original color when heated. This smart material could be used for advanced mechanochromic applications.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Polymer Chemistry
- Optics
Background:
- Chiral liquid crystalline polymers (CLCPs) create structural colors via helical twisting.
- Developing materials with tunable optical properties and shape memory is challenging.
Purpose of the Study:
- To create a deformable photonic crystal with a thermal-mediative shape memory effect.
- To investigate the mechanochromic and shape memory properties of a novel CLC-PUA composite film.
Main Methods:
- Fabrication of a CLCP scaffold using phase-stabilization and polymerization.
- Infiltration and photo-polymerization of polyurethane acrylate (PUA) into the scaffold.
- Characterization of structural color changes under compression and thermal stimuli.
Main Results:
- The CLC-PUA composite film exhibited a reversible blue shift in structural color upon compression.
- The deformed color state was retained after removing the compressive force.
- Increasing temperature restored the film's original structural color, demonstrating a thermal-mediative shape memory effect.
Conclusions:
- A novel CLC-PUA composite film with mechanochromic and shape memory properties was successfully fabricated.
- The material demonstrates potential for use in smart sensors and adaptive optical devices.
- This work provides a pathway for designing advanced soft materials with tunable responses.
