Nanosized shape-changing colloids from liquid crystalline elastomers

Abstract

A method to prepare shape-changing nanospheres from liquid crystalline elastomers is reported. The nanosized colloids are prepared by a miniemulsion process. During this process, colloids are prepared from a liquid crystalline (LC) main-chain polyester and subsequently crosslinked into a nanometer-sized LC elastomer. The ability of these LC elastomers to change their shape at the phase transition temperature from the smectic A to the isotropic phase was detected by temperature-dependent transmission electron microscopy. The phase transition-induced shape change leads to strongly shape anisotropic nanosized elastomer particles. Liquid crystalline (LC) polymers were processed by miniemulsion and subsequent crosslinking into nanometer-sized LC elastomer (LCE) colloids. The shape changing ability of the LCEs was used to induce an overall shape change of the spherical particles into strongly anisotropic nanocolloids. Copyright © 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.