Wide-band reflective films produced by side-chain cholesteric liquid-crystalline elastomers derived from a binaphthalene crosslinking agent

A series of novel side-chain cholesteric liquid-crystalline elastomers based on polysiloxane and cholesterol derivate monomer were prepared by adopting a crosslinking agent containing binaphthalene group. The chemical structures and mesomorphic properties of the monomers and elastomers were confirmed by FT-IR, H-1 NMR, DSC and POM measurements. Worthily, the elastomers exhibited unusual temperature dependence of the helical twisting power (HIP) which is demonstrated resulting from coordination of the crosslinking agent and the mesogenic units. With increase in temperature, the HTP of elastomers containing small quantity of the crosslinking unit exhibited a turning point, while that of elastomers comprising much more crosslinking unit shifted straight. Furthermore, a single layer wide-band reflective film with non-uniform pitch distribution was prepared by utilizing the HTP variety of elastomers with change in temperature. From scanning electron microscopy (SEM) investigations, the mechanism of the broadband reflection was verified. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.