Polymer Processing at Liquid Crystal-Air Interfaces*

Fluid interfaces are unique environments for materials processing because, as inherently open systems, they promote dynamic transport from adjoining phases and offer anisotropic structures that give rise to strong directional interactions during assembly. Liquid crystal interfaces add further prospects for producing materials with directional ordering or anisotropic morphology. For example, colloids assembled at liquid crystal-air and liquid crystal-water interfaces can form chains or hexagonal lattices. In this talk, we demonstrate liquid crystal-mediated synthesis and assembly of polymer colloids at liquid crystal-air interfaces. The polymer colloids are produced by polymerization of acrylic monomers in non-reactive liquid crystal mesogens. We examine mechanisms governing the simultaneous polymer growth and assembly as a function of reaction time, initial monomer concentration, and liquid crystal director orientation. Results outline design rules to control the nucleation and growth of morphologically enhanced polymer composites.