Bioinspired Electro-Responsive Multispectral Controllable Dye-Doped Liquid Crystal Yolk–Shell Microcapsules for Advanced Textiles

Abstract

Liquid crystal microcapsules have attracted increasing attention due to their sophisticated structures and adjustable multifunctional features. However, the synthesis of a microscale substrate with wide electromagnetic waveband modulation characteristics and good photoelectric stabilization is still limited and challenging. Herein, a new breed of microcapsules containing dye-doped liquid crystals in a yolk−shell configuration with VTES (vinyl-trim-ethyl-silane)-modified Fe 3 O 4 @SiO 2 is created. It exhibits an unexpected color enhancement effect, reversible electrochromic performance, and excellent magnetically controllable characteristics. Additionally, a multispectral (visible light, near-infrared light, and high-frequency electromagnetic wave) electro-responsive fabric based on the proposed microcapsules was developed to explore its application in wearable sensors. The present work opens an avenue toward the fabrication of microscale microencapsulated soft materials with a continuous and stable yolk−shell structure. Moreover, it will expand the application regimes of liquid crystal materials in smart windows and advanced textiles.

Advances in 4D printing of liquid crystalline elastomers: materials, techniques, and applications

“…Efforts paid in exploiting the phase transition of LCs have never remitted since the first witness of this phenomenon over 150 years ago. 81 The flourishment of low-molar-mass LCs has significantly advanced display technologies and revealed capacities in areas such as energy-harvesting devices, 82 mechanical actuators, 83 wearable sensors, [84][85][86] and novel films in past centuries. 87,88 In 1975, de Gennes and Seances first recognized the interplay between the LC phase and the macromolecular network architecture, which generates exceptional physical properties that resemble hierarchies in muscle structures and other biological systems.…”

Development in liquid crystal microcapsules: fabrication, optimization and applications

“…In order to solve the above problems, the Fe3O4@SiO2@VTES@DDLC@PMMA with novel yolk-shell structure is reported. [145] The utilization of Fe3O4 particles, as the yolk, on the one hand provides the material with multispectral absorption property, and on the other hand makes it possible to remotely control the microcapsules with a magnetic field. However, the driving voltage and maximum transmittance are severely impacted by the semiconductor yolk, which needs to be further improved.…”

Recent Progress in Functional Dye‐Doped Liquid Crystal Devices

“…Disperse Red 60) were employed as the albumen, and polymethyl methacrylate acted as the shell. [ 69 ] The proposed microcapsules (denoted as EM‐DDLC‐YS‐Ms) possessed a uniform and well‐dispersed spherical morphology, the middle dye‐doped LC space, and also a low driving voltage. A similar color enhancement effect of Cyanocitta stelleri , in which the underlying basal melanin layer under its spongy layer acts as a pivotal role in the enhancement of coloration because melanin has optical functions such as absorbing incoherent scattered white light from the plumage, had also been realized in the yolk‐shell microcapsules.…”