PREPARATION AND PERMEABILITY CONTROL OF ELECTRO-SENSITIVE MICROCAPSULES WITH IMMOBILIZED FERROELECTRIC LIQUID CRYSTALLINE SEGMENTS

Abstract

Nylon-polystyrene microcapsules with immobilized ferroelectric liquid crystalline segments were prepared, and the permeability control of the encapsulated core material was investigated under an external electric field. A ferroelectric liquid crystal monomer possessing both mesogenicity and chirality effectively responded to an external electrical field. Permeation of the material (oxprenolol) contained in the inner aqueous core of the microcapsules was enhanced under a feeble electric field (2 V). Furthermore, it was found that the permeability of the microcapsules without the ferroelectric liquid crystal group did not depend on the external electrical field. In order to clarify the controlled release mechanism of the core material, the transmittance was quantitatively evaluated under an external electric field using a handmade polarized light transmittance apparatus.

Keywords:

• Double membrane microcapsule
• Electro response
• Ferroelectric liquid crystals
• Interfacial polymerization
• Permeability control
• Substrate channel

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful for a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (Nos. 16760611, 17360377) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan.