CREATION OF SUPRAMOLECULAR THIN-FILM ARCHITECTURES WITH LIQUID-CRYSTALLINE NETWORKS

In-situ photopolymerization of liquid-crystalline networks offers the opportunity to fix the molecular organisation of any LC phase in a thi n plastic film. In addition to that, one has access to a number of add itional techniques to affect the molecular organisation during or afte r the polymerization process which makes it possible to create odd mol ecular architectures in a controlled way. A number of these techniques are discussed in this paper.