Stimuli-Responsive Materials from Liquid Crystals
Yena Choi, Daeseop Choi, Jin‐Kang Choi, Kwang‐Suk Oh, Eunsu Cho, Jun‐Hyung Im, Dharmendra Pratap Singh, Young‐Ki Kim
Abstract
The capability of liquid crystals (LCs), that instantaneously modulate their physical and chemical properties in response to a target stimulus, found a killer application of liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and has made LCs one of the most widely used materials. The use of LCs, however, is not restricted to LCDs. Over decades, a range of characteristic features of LCs has been unveiled and opened access not only to the fundamental knowledge gap but also to a rich variety of applications beyond LCDs, including the measurement of Casimir torque, nonlinear electrophoresis, the morphology of the topological defect, colloidal/molecular templates, sensors, actuators, and controlled release systems. Here, we review how the unique properties of LCs have been leveraged and provided insights into the design of stimuli-responsive materials and their applications.