Phys.org November 14, 2018
A team of researchers in the US (University of Michigan. University of Wisconsin, Cornell University) has shown that chemical vapor polymerization can be performed on surfaces coated with thin films of liquid crystals to synthesize organized assemblies of end-attached polymer nanofibers. Their process uses low concentrations of radical monomers formed initially in the vapor phase and then diffused into the liquid-crystal template. This minimizes monomer-induced changes to the liquid-crystal phase and enables access to nanofiber arrays with complex yet precisely defined structures and compositions and permits tailoring of a wide range of functional properties – coatings that are sticky, repellant, insulating or light emitting, among other possibilities…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Influence of LC template on nanofiber morphology and organization. Credit: Science (2018). DOI: 10.1126/science.aar8449