Mesostructure and orientation control of lyotropic liquid crystals in a polysiloxane matrix

As a preparation method for organic-inorganic or mesoporous inorganic materials via sol-gel condensation of a metal alkoxide, the combination of lyotropic liquid crystals (LLCs) and sol-gel chemistry is a versatile tool to fabricate various nanostructures. Despite previous investigations into such systems, no attempt has been made to utilize the dynamic switching functions of such nanostructures via the phase transition of LLCs in films A polysiloxane containing an amine-hydrochloride group and a vinyl group was recently synthesized. By controlling the relative humidity, we achieved the phase transition of LLCs and on-demand UV-curing of LLC phases in the polysiloxane film. We further developed vertically oriented organic-inorganic nanochannels by using pi-pi interactions between discotic molecules and the substrate surface or the spontaneous vertical alignment of LLC containing azobenzene units.