Cholesteric liquid crystals (CLCs) show selective reflection due to their helical structures. They are formed by the introduction of chiral elements into liquid crystals molecules or by doping of nematic liquid crystals with chiral dopants. Photoresponsive chiral dopants are increasing being used to fabricate tuneable CLCs.
In this hot paper, Liu and colleagues use an imprinting method which used multiple UV-induced polymerisations. A helical polymer matrix was imprinted in the presence of a CLC. Desirable Bragg reflections were found, without any added liquid crystals or chiral compounds.
Fabrication and characterization of imprinted photonic crystalline polymer matrices via multiple UV polymerizations
J. Mater. Chem., 2012, 22, 22446. DOI: 10.1039/c2jm35151j (free to read for a short time)
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