Fabrication of dye-doped liquid crystal microcapsules for electro-stimulated responsive smart textiles

摘要

Electrochromic dye-doped liquid crystal microcapsules were prepared via emulsion polymerization and further fabricated into a dye-doped liquid crystal-based smart fabric. The optimal preparation condition of electrochromic dye-doped liquid crystal microcapsules was determined by a serial of designed experiments. Transmission electron microscope images showed that dye-doped liquid crystal microcapsules possessed a spherical core-shell structure with a diameter of about 3 mu m. The core loading was around 70 wt% and confirmed by thermogravimetric analysis. The color of fabric coated with dye-doped liquid crystal microcapsules were changed under direct current/voltage due to the Frederick transformation. We found that driving voltages of dye-doped liquid crystal and electrochromic dye-doped liquid crystal microcapsule were below human safety voltage. Whiles, service life of dye-doped liquid crystal was significantly improved after encapsulated by PMMA shell, but without reducing its transmittance.