智能响应蓝相液晶光子晶体

Stimuli-Responsive Blue Phase Liquid Crystalline Photonic Crystal

具有刺激响应性的智能驱动材料已成为材料科学领域的研究热点之一。液晶的超分子自组装结构与其刺激响应特性使其在新型智能功能材料的开发应用上具有天然优势。蓝相液晶由于其独特的三维超分子自组装结构、软物质特性以及可见光波段的选择性光反射,被认为是最具潜力的智能光子晶体材料之一。在温度、光照、电场、湿度等外场刺激作用下,蓝相超分子自组装结构的晶体学参数或相态非常容易发生变化,造成光子带隙的改变进而呈现出反射颜色的变化。因此,蓝相的外场响应性能及在智能材料上的应用引起了研究者的广泛关注。本文综述了智能响应蓝相液晶光子晶体外场响应性能方面的前沿动态,对蓝相液晶光子晶体的光、磁、电、力、湿度响应等方面取得的系列重要的研究成果进行了总结,并对该领域目前存在的挑战以及未来发展趋势做出展望。

Intelligent materials with stimulus responsiveness become the research hotspots in recent years. Liquid crystal(LC) materials with supramolecular self-assembly nanostructure and stimulus responsive properties exhibit inherent advantages in the development of the novel intelligent functional materials. Blue phases(BPs), as the LC phases with exotic fluid self-assembled 3D periodic supernanostructures and the characteristic of selective reflection of circularly polarized light in visible light range, have been regarded as one kind of the most promising candidates for smart photonic crystals. The crystallographic parameters or phase states of BPs are susceptible to various external stimulation such as temperature, light irradiation, electric field or humidity. This causes a change in the photonic band gap of BPs, which exhibits visually reflection color variance. Therefore, BPs have recently drawn vast and increasing attentions due to their external-field responsive properties and great potential applications in intelligent materials. Herein, we provide the frontier research advancements in the stimuli-responsive blue phase liquid crystalline photonic crystals. The important research results obtained on the optical, magnetic, electrical, mechanical and humidity responsiveness of BPLC photonic crystals were introduced in detail. At the end of this review, the challenges and possible development direction of this novel soft matter intelligent material are prospected briefly.