Anisotropic sol–gel transition and morphological aspects of a hierarchical network of nematic gel and a superimposed photopolymer

Abstract

We report investigations on a liquid crystal confined in a hierarchical double network arising from the fibres of an organogelator and a photopolymer. The morphological characteristics and the gel point are seen to be strongly dependent on temperature, or more accurately on the thermodynamic phase in which the polymerization is carried out and also the concentration of the reactive monomer. The presence or absence of the anisotropy of the phase as well as the fluid or the gel character present architectures that are substantially different in complexity as quantified by the fractal dimension obtained from scanning electron microscopy images. The main aspect of this study, which includes dielectric as well as elastic constant measurements, is the attractive feature of hierarchical networks wherein the polymer and gel networks are caused by different chemical species providing a control to have one of them superimposed on the other leading to interesting confined geometry effects.