Issue 24, 2022

Visible light, temperature, and electric field-driven rotation of diffraction gratings enabled by an axially chiral molecular switch

Abstract

The design and development of functional soft materials with responsive and adaptive properties that can be driven by multiple stimuli are necessary for fundamental scientific enquiry and technological applications in advanced devices. Herein, a novel visible light responsive axially chiral molecular switch with high helical twisting power (HTP) has been synthesized which shows good compatibility in a commercially available nematic liquid crystal (LC) host E7. The cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) mixture fabricated using the chiral switch and LC E7 can be driven by visible light, temperature, and electric field. Reversible red, green, and blue (RGB) reflection colors upon visible light irradiation and temperature variation are achieved in the planar cell. When the CLC mixtures with different concentrations of the chiral switch are introduced into hybrid cells with planar and homeotropic boundary conditions, the spontaneous formation of diffraction gratings (DGs) occurs. Good quality DGs are obtained in the range of ∼1.85 ≤ d (cell thickness)/P ≤ ∼4.30. The stripes rotate clockwise continuously with the maximum rotation angle over 2π (383.1°) upon visible light (405 nm) irradiation, over π (192.4°) upon increasing temperature, and over π/2 (101.2°) upon applying electric field, respectively. Such multi-stimuli (visible light, temperature, and electric field) responsive in-plane rotation of the DGs shows great potential for beam steering, spectrum scanning, and beyond.

Graphical abstract: Visible light, temperature, and electric field-driven rotation of diffraction gratings enabled by an axially chiral molecular switch

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Research Article
Submitted
02 Okt 2022
Accepted
28 Okt 2022
First published
29 Okt 2022

Mater. Chem. Front., 2022,6, 3698-3705

Author version available

Visible light, temperature, and electric field-driven rotation of diffraction gratings enabled by an axially chiral molecular switch

X. Zhang, F. Hassan, H. K. Bisoyi, H. Wang, Z. Zhou and Q. Li, Mater. Chem. Front., 2022, 6, 3698 DOI: 10.1039/D2QM01003H

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements