Photoalignment of liquid crystals in a hydrogen‐bonding‐directed layer‐by‐layer ultrathin film

Abstract

In this paper, a new type of hydrogen‐bonding‐directed layer‐by‐layer (LBL) ultrathin film with photosensitive cinnamoyl chromophores was prepared. It could induce uniform alignment of liquid crystals (LCs) after being irradiated by linearly polarised ultraviolet light (LPUVL). The hydrogen‐bonding‐directed formation of a photochromic multilayer film was achieved on the basis of an alternating assembly of poly(4‐vinylpyridine) (PVPy) and poly(4‐acryloyloxy)cinnamic acid (PCA). The assembly process was followed by UV–visible spectroscopy. The nature of the interaction between the two polymers was identified as a hydrogen bond through Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. When the film was irradiated by LPUVL, the cinnamoyl units in the film underwent [2+2] cycloaddition along the electric vector direction of the LPUVL. The polarised UV–visible spectra proved that the film was anisotropic, and then the film could induce homogeneous alignment of nematic LCs. With the number increment of the bilayers, the alignment effect of the multilayer film was enhanced, and the contrast ratio became higher. The orientation direction of the LCs was always perpendicular to the electric vector of the irradiating LPUVL.

Keywords:

• photoalignment
• layer‐by‐layer ultrathin film
• hydrogen bond
• liquid crystal

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos 60736042, 60578035, 50703039) and the Natural Foundation of Jilin Province (Grant Nos 20050520, 20050321‐2) for financial support.