Department of Molecular Materials, Radboud University, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Soft Matter. 2016 Aug 21;12(31):6518-25. doi: 10.1039/c6sm00652c. Epub 2016 Jun 20.
An alignment technique based on the combination of magnetic fields and a liquid crystal (LC) template uses the advantages of both approaches: the magnetic fields offer non-contact methods that apply to all sample sizes and shapes, whilst the LC templates offer high susceptibilities. The combination introduces a route to control the spatial organization of materials with low intrinsic susceptibilities. We demonstrate that we can unidirectionally align one such material, peptide amphiphiles in water, on a centimeter scale at a tenfold lower magnetic field by using a lyotropic chromonic liquid crystal as a template. We can transform the aligned supramolecular assemblies into optically active π-conjugated polymers after photopolymerization. Lastly, by reducing the magnetic field strength needed for addressing these assemblies, we are able to create more complex structures by initiating self-assembly of our supramolecular materials under competing alignment forces between the magnetically induced alignment of the assemblies (with a positive diamagnetic anisotropy) and the elastic force dominated alignment of the template (with a negative diamagnetic anisotropy), which is directed orthogonally. Although the approach is still in its infancy and many critical parameters need optimization, we believe that it is a very promising technique to create tailor-made complex structures of (aqueous) functional soft matter.
一种基于磁场和液晶（LC）模板结合的对准技术利用了两种方法的优势：磁场提供了非接触方法，适用于所有样品尺寸和形状，而 LC 模板提供了高磁化率。这种组合为控制具有低固有磁化率的材料的空间组织提供了一种途径。我们证明，我们可以通过使用溶致变色液晶作为模板，在十倍低的磁场下在厘米范围内将一种这样的材料，即肽两亲物在水中沿一个方向对齐。我们可以在光聚合后将对齐的超分子组装体转化为具有光活性的π共轭聚合物。最后，通过降低寻址这些组装体所需的磁场强度，我们能够通过在组装体的磁诱导对齐（具有正的反磁各向异性）和模板主导的弹性力对齐（具有负的反磁各向异性）之间的竞争对齐力下引发我们的超分子材料的自组装，来创建更复杂的结构，该模板对齐方向正交。尽管该方法仍处于起步阶段，许多关键参数需要优化，但我们相信，这是一种非常有前途的技术，可以创建（水性）功能软物质的定制复杂结构。
