Ryosuke Fujii

Structural study of four Ca@C82 isomers by 13C NMR spectroscopy

Abstract The 13 C NMR spectra of four Ca@C 82 isomers have been measured. The symmetry of isomers I, II, III, and IV are assigned to be C s , C 3v , C 2 , and C 2v , respectively. For isomer IV, the cage is specified to be C 2v (9).

Birefringent Pattern Formation in Photoinactive Liquid Crystalline Polymer Films Based on a Photoalignment Technique with Top-Coating of Cinnamic Acid Derivatives via H-Bonds

The application of a top-coating of 4-methoxy cinnamic acid (MCA) onto a photoinactive liquid crystalline polymeric film containing benzoic acid (BA) side groups (P6BAM) is shown to enable thermally stimulated, photoinduced reorientation of the polymer structure. Annealing the MCA-coated P6BAM films leads to H-bond formation between BA and MCA, which also effectively smooths the film surface. Exposure to linearly polarized (LP) UV light initiates axis-selective photoreaction of the MCA groups; subsequent thermal treatment in the LC temperature range of P6BAM amplifies molecular reorientation of the BA side groups, while simultaneously eliminating the MCA molecules. Selective inkjet coating of MCA provides a facile route for the fabrication of patterned, oriented, and rewritable P6BAM films with multiple controlled alignment directions.

Photoinduced Birefringent Pattern and Photoinactivation of Liquid Crystalline Copolymer Films with Benzoic Acid and Phenylaldehyde Side Groups

In situ formation of N-benzylideneaniline (NBA) side groups achieved photoinduced cooperative reorientation of photoinactive copolymers with phenylaldehyde (PA) and benzoic acid (BA) side groups doped with 4-methoxyaniline (AN) molecules. Thermally stimulated molecular reorientation of the side groups was generated due to the axis-selective photoreaction of the NBA moieties. Selective coating with AN on the copolymer film formed NBA moieties in the desired region, resulting in a photoinduced birefringent pattern. Additionally, postannealing at an elevated temperature for a long time attained photoinactivation of the reoriented film, and recoating with AN to form NBA achieved the multiple birefringent patterns and repatterning of the reoriented structures. The slow thermal hydrolysis of NBA, which was 50 times slower than the thermally stimulated self-organization of the side groups due to the presence of BA side groups, contributed to the photodurability of the reoriented film and multiple birefringent patterns.

Depth analysis of molecular orientation induced by nanoimprint graphoepitaxy

The nanoimprint process is a useful technique for the fabrication of various nanostructures on functional materials without the use of any etching processes. We previously confirmed that the molecular orientation of a photo-crosslinkable liquid crystalline polymer (PLCP) was induced by nanoimprinting using a process called nanoimprint graphoepitaxy. In this work, we repeat the previous O2 reactive ion etching processing and molecular orientation evaluation to examine the depth profile of the unidirectional molecular orientation that is induced by nanoimprint graphoepitaxy. The results obtained indicate that the initial PLCP film thickness affects the resulting unidirectional molecular orientation depth.