TY - JOUR AU - Wang, Qian AU - Shang, Yang AU - Yu, Li AU - Zou, Cheng AU - Yao, Wenhuan AU - Zhao, Dongyu AU - Song, Ping AU - Yang, Huai AU - Guo, Lin PY - 2016 TI - Facet-dependent Cu2O nanocrystals in manipulating alignment of liquid crystals and photomechanical behaviors JO - Nano Research SN - 1998-0124 SP - 2581 EP - 2589 VL - 9 IS - 9 AB - Manipulating the alignment of liquid crystals (LCs) is a hot and fundamental issue for their applications in block copolymers, photonics, actuators, biosensors, and liquid-crystal displays. Here, the surface characteristic of Cu2O nanocrystals was well controlled to manipulate the orientation of the LCs. The mechanism of the orientation of the LCs induced by Cu2O nanocrystals was elucidated based on the interaction between the LCs and Cu2O nanocrystals. To comprehensively prove our assumption, different types of LCs (nematic, cholesteric, and smectic) as well as the same type of LCs with different polarities were selected in our system. Moreover, the photomechanical behaviors of the LC polymer composites demonstrated that the alignment of LCs can be effectively manipulated using Cu2O nanocrystals. UR - https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-016-1144-4 DO - 10.1007/s12274-016-1144-4