Liquid crystal fibers produced by using electrospinning technique

This paper investigates the electrospinning process of liquid crystalline polysiloxane with cholesterol as side chain (LCPC) and the influence on the morphology of the formed fibers by mixing LCPC solution with small-molecule liquid crystal, triethylamine, and poly(ethylene oxide)(PEO). The mechanical properties of single fibers were characterized by a novel approach. The results indicate that, under appropriate conditions, fine liquid crystal fibers can be obtained and the preferable mechanical properties can be achieved, especially after annealing. WXRD was used to investigate the orientation of polymer molecules in the formed fibers, suggesting that strong interaction exists between LCPC and PEO molecule in the resulting composite fibers, and polymer molecular tends to arrange regularly during electrospinning processing. This research work provides a new and facile method of using electrospinning to prepare liquid crystal fibers, which would be useful for designing the related high-performance materials.