Bold relief fabrication by means of electroconvection: basic properties of a suitable mixture

Abstract

Electroconvection of liquid crystals does not only lead to a large variety of spontaneously formed patterns, but these patterns can also be used as a template for the fabrication of polymer surfaces exhibiting a periodic bold relief. Here, a useful room-temperature nematic mixture consisting of two photostable liquid crystals and a photosensitive cross-linker is presented. Its stability diagram in the frequency-voltage plane, the influence of monomer concentration and the topography of the resulting polymer surfaces are described.

Keywords:

• electroconvection
• liquid crystals
• photopolymerisation
• micro- and nanostructures

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Yoshiki Hidaka for illuminating discussions. Financial support by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (project KI 411/5-2) is gratefully acknowledged.