摘要
Both nematic elastomers and nematic hydrogels are known to display striped patterns.In contrast to a large body of proposed models for nematic elastomers,few studies exist to interpret striping in nematic hydrogels.In this paper,a theoretical model based on free energyminimization is developed to simulate the drying-induced striping in a layer of nematic hydrogel bonded to a rigid substrate.The liquid crystalline polymers in the nematic hydrogel rotate by certain angles to form the striping in response to a drying environment.Moreover,the striping occurs only for a finite range of humidity,and the boundaries of this range can be tuned.
Both nematic elastomers and nematic hydrogels are known to display striped patterns. In contrast to a large body of proposed models for nematic elastomers, few studies exist to interpret striping in nematic hydrogels. In this paper, a theoretical model based on free energy minimization is developed to simulate the drying-induced striping in a layer of nematic hydrogel bonded to a rigid substrate. The liquid crystalline polymers in the nematic hydrogel rotate by certain angles to form the striping in response to a drying environment. Moreover, the striping occurs only for a finite range of humidity, and the boundaries of this range can be tuned.
基金
supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (10872150,11090334)
Shanghai Leading Academic Discipline Project (B302)
