Exploring the Inclusion of Dynamic Bonds into Adaptive Liquid Crystalline Functional Polymers

In Chapter 1, a review and background of stimuli-responsive materials is provided that identifies dynamic liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) as a promising class of materials with avenues for potential study. In Chapter 2, a tailorable network design allows for the study of dynamic bond placement within disulfide containing LCEs as it pertains to thermomechanical, morphological, and relaxation properties. In Chapter 3, a linear phase-separated metallosupramolecular liquid crystal polymer (MSLCP) was developed to study the impact that phase separation and metallosupramolecular linkages have on liquid crystallinity as well as how these moieties can be leveraged to synthesize more processable LCP materials. In Chapter 4, disulfide containing LCEs are used as a platform for developing adaptive retrainable adhesive materials whose properties can be synthetically tailored through the bulkiness of the mesogen and the resulting control of the stability of the LC phase. Finally, Chapter 5 provides a summary of the work performed as well as some perspectives and outlooks for future research directions.