Stimuli-responsive polymers are promising materials for smart sensors, passive actuators, and a variety of other applications. Typically, stimuli-responsive gels consist of an isotropic gel swollen with an isotropic liquid. Recently it was reported that nematic gels swollen with nematic liquid crystals undergo a thermally induced de-swelling/re-swelling transition. The de-swelling transition occurs when the system is heated above the solvent nematic-isotropic transition temperature because the nematic gel and the isotropic solvent have a poor interaction energy. Upon further heating the system above the gel nematic�isotropic transition temperature the system undergoes a re-swelling transition because the isotropic gel and the isotropic solvent have a favorable interaction energy. Chiral structured gels with structural color that undergo very similar transitions are explored here.

Helicoidally structured gels undergoing order-disorder phase transitions

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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