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Thermal properties and liquid crystallinity of side-chain azobenzene copolymer containing pendant polyhedral oligomeric silsequioxanes

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Abstract

Vinylated polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS-M) was prepared by the reaction of POSS containing amine groups with acrylic acid. Azobenzene liquid crystalline copolymer (LCP-POSS) was then synthesized with 6.0 mol% POSS-M and 94.0 mol% acrylate monomer containing azobenzene liquid crystalline moiety (Azo-M) by free-radical copolymerization. Homopolymer of Azo-M (LCP) was also synthesized under the same conditions. Their thermal properties and liquid crystallinity were characterized by Thermal gravimetric analysis (TG), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Wide-angle X-ray diffraction experiments (XRD) and polarized optical micrographs (POM). The results showed that LCP-POSS has higher thermal stability and glass transition temperature than pure LCP due to the incorporation of the rigid cage-like POSS. Especially, LCP-POSS exhibits enantiotropic smectic and nematic liquid crystalline behaviors, its smectic-nematic transition temperature (T SN) and nematic-isotropic transition temperature (T NI) are higher than those of pure LCP, which may promote and extend its applications on stimuli-responsive materials and devices.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful for the financial support provided by the Outstanding Youth Fund of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (50825301), Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province (2009CDB257), and Open Fund of State Key Laboratory of Plastic Forming Simulation and Die and Mould Technology of HUST. We are also grateful for Analytical and Testing Center of Huazhong University of Science and Technology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hubei Key Laboratory of Materials Chemistry and Service Failure, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Xiao-Tao Wang, Zhi-Fang Yang, Xing-Ping Zhou, Yong-Gui Liao, Chen-Chen Lv & Xiao-Lin Xie

  2. Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering, Hubei University, Wuhan, 430062, China

    Ying-Kui Yang

  3. Department of Applied Chemistry, National Chiao-Tung University, Hsin Chu, Taiwan, ROC

    Feng-Chih Chang

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  1. Xiao-Tao Wang
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Correspondence to Yong-Gui Liao or Xiao-Lin Xie.

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Wang, XT., Yang, YK., Yang, ZF. et al. Thermal properties and liquid crystallinity of side-chain azobenzene copolymer containing pendant polyhedral oligomeric silsequioxanes. J Therm Anal Calorim 102, 739–744 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-010-0772-2

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