State and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Novel Functional Polymeric Materials, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, PR China
Ming Zhang
State and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Novel Functional Polymeric Materials, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, PR China
Yongxing Guo
State and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Novel Functional Polymeric Materials, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, PR China
Wei Liu
Corresponding authors.; State and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Novel Functional Polymeric Materials, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, PR China
Yi Li
State and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Novel Functional Polymeric Materials, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, PR China
Yonggang Yang
Corresponding authors.; State and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Novel Functional Polymeric Materials, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, PR China
Colorful cholesteric liquid crystal polymer network (CLCN) patterns can be applied for decoration and anti-counterfeiting. Herein, the CLC inks were prepared using an acrylate liquid crystal, chiral dopants and a photoinitiator. Full-color CLCN patterns were able to be printed out using only two CLC inks by changing their volume ratio. A structure with a gradient helical pitch was identified between different colors. For anti-counterfeiting, the color patterns composed of opposite-handed CLCNs were also printed. A helical-nonhelical-helical structure was identified at the interface. In addition, CLCN patterns with a grating structure were also prepared. The results shown here not only give us a better understanding the cholesteric structure, but also lay the foundations for the applications of CLCN patterns in the fields of decoration and anti-counterfeiting.
