Multidimensional-Encryption in Emissive Liquid Crystal Elastomers through Synergistic Usage of Photorewritable Fluorescent Patterning and Reconfigurable 3D Shaping

Advanced encryption/decryption strategies are of great significance for information protection and data security. It is highly desirable yet quite challenging to develop functional materials for encrypting/decrypting information more effectively. Herein, a novel emissive liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) for multidimensional and multistage encryption is proposed for the first time, through synergistic utilization of phototunable fluorescence and the photoprogrammable shape. The fluorescent LCE is fabricated by incorporating an aggregation-induced-emission alpha-cyanodiarylethene-based hydrogen-bonded complex and azobenzene derivative into the LCE networks through covalent bonding. Because of the photoisomerization of both these two photosensitive derivatives under the same exciting light, the consequent LCE films exhibit photoinduced reversible fluorescence changes and shape deformations that are suitable for data storage and encryption. On this basis, the collaborative usage of photolithography-based 2D fluorescent images and photoprogramming 3D shape configurations can lead to multidimensional and multistage encryption. Moreover, this encryption strategy is reprogrammable, allowing for repeatable encoding and decrypting. The results demonstrated here reveal that the reversible phototunable fluorescent LCE materials exhibit promising applications in data storage and encryption.

Automated summary

This study introduces a novel emissive liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) for multidimensional and multistage encryption, utilizing phototunable fluorescence and photoprogrammable shape. The reversible phototunable fluorescent LCE materials exhibit promising applications in data storage and encryption, enabling repeatable encoding and decrypting.