Combining responsiveness and durability in liquid crystal-functionalised electrospun fibres with crosslinked sheath

in Liquid Crystals (2021)

Responsive functional composite fibre mats that are mechanically stable and impervious to water exposure are produced by coaxial electrospinning of thermotropic liquid crystal (LC) core inside a water ... [more ▼]

Responsive functional composite fibre mats that are mechanically stable and impervious to water exposure are produced by coaxial electrospinning of thermotropic liquid crystal (LC) core inside a water-based solution of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) forming the sheath. Because thermotropic LCs usually cannot be spun inside water-based solutions due to excessive interfacial tension γ, a n enabling step is the addition of ethanol or dioxane to the LC as a co-solvent compatible with both core and sheath fluids. This reduces γ sufficiently that coaxial jet spinning is possible. After spinning, thermal cross-linking of the PVA+PAA sheath yields LC-functionalised fibres that can be manipulated by hand and remain intact even upon full immersion in water. The LC core retains its behaviour, nematics showing well-aligned birefringence and transitioning to isotropic upon heating above the clearing point, and cholesterics showing selective reflection which is even enhanced upon water immersion due to the removal of sheath scattering. Our results pave the way to producing LC-functionalised responsive fibre mats using durable polymer sheaths, thereby enabling numerous innovative applications in wearable technology, and they also open new opportunities to study LCs in confinement, without visible impact of the container walls. [less ▲]

Stable Electrospinning of Core-Functionalized Coaxial Fibers Enabled by the Minimum-Energy Interface Given by Partial Core− Sheath Miscibility

in Langmuir (2021), 37(45), 1326513277

Core−sheath electrospinning is a powerful tool for producing composite fibers with one or multiple encapsulated functional materials, but many material combinations are difficult or even impossible to ... [more ▼]

Core−sheath electrospinning is a powerful tool for producing composite fibers with one or multiple encapsulated functional materials, but many material combinations are difficult or even impossible to spin together. We show that the key to success is to ensure a well-defined core−sheath interface while also maintaining a constant and minimal interfacial energy across this interface. Using a thermotropic liquid crystal as a model functional core and polyacrylic acid or styrene-butadiene-styrene block copolymer as a sheath polymer, we study the effects of using water, ethanol, or tetrahydrofuran as polymer solvent. We find that the ideal core and sheath materials are partially miscible, with their phase diagram exhibiting an inner miscibility gap. Complete immiscibility yields a relatively high interfacial tension that causes core breakup, even preventing the core from entering the fiber- producing jet, whereas the lack of a well-defined interface in the case of complete miscibility eliminates the core−sheath morphology, and it turns the core into a coagulation bath for the sheath solution, causing premature gelation in the Taylor cone. Moreover, to minimize Marangoni flows in the Taylor cone due to local interfacial tension variations, a small amount of the sheath solvent should be added to the core prior to spinning. Our findings resolve a long-standing confusion regarding guidelines for selecting core and sheath fluids in core−sheath electrospinning. These discoveries can be applied to many other material combinations than those studied here, enabling new functional composites of large interest and application potential. [less ▲]

Microfluidic Wet Spinning of Core-Sheath Elastomer-Liquid Crystal Fibers

Scientific Conference (2019, March 29)

Liquid crystals encapsulated in fibers have a wide variety of applications in sensing. In order to produce these, several methods have been explored. Electrospinning is among the better-known techniques ... [more ▼]

Liquid crystals encapsulated in fibers have a wide variety of applications in sensing. In order to produce these, several methods have been explored. Electrospinning is among the better-known techniques with considerable successes. Only a limited range of polymers, though, has been used for electrospinning with liquid crystal cores, and the process of electrospinning has many obstacles to its utility at an industrial scale. On the other hand, wet-spinning techniques are better suited for industrial applications and are widely used in textile manufacturing, but are not commonly used for coaxial fiber production, especially with the large experimental scales that are difficult to replicate in a standard liquid crystal research laboratory. We therefore propose a method for wet-spinning coaxial core-sheath liquid crystal-filled elastomer fibers using a microfluidic set-up. Based on the flow-focusing method used for the production of liquid crystal shells and emulsions, this technique generates coaxial filaments by pumping a core-sheath flow of a liquid crystal surrounded by a rubbery polymer solution into a co-flowing coagulation bath. The coagulation bath is tuned to quickly extract the elastic polymer solution solvent, leaving behind a dry, continuous fiber. We have employed this method to produce fibers of polybutadiene and polyisoprene containing a core of a liquid crystal, such as 4-cyano-4'-pentylbiphenyl (5CB). Investigations into the choice of polymer solution, i.e. both the polymer and solvents used, will be presented in addition to discussion on parameters affecting the contiguity of the core. [less ▲]