Easily Processable and Programmable Responsive Semi-Interpenetrating Liquid Crystalline Polymer Network Coatings with Changing Reflectivities and Surface Topographies

The fabrication of stimulus-responsive coatings that change both reflectivity and topography is hampered by the lack of easy processable, patternable, and programmable elastomers. Here, an easily applied reflective coating based on a semi-interpenetrating polymer network composed of a liquid crystal elastomer and a liquid crystal network (>15 wt%) is reported. The reflective wavelength of these polysiloxane elastomer photonic coatings can be readily programed by the concentration of chiral reactive mesogen dopant that forms the network. The coatings show a fast and reversible decrease in reflection band intensity with increasing temperature, which can be tuned by the polymer network density. In addition, hierarchical surface relief structures are prepared, which can be reversibly changed with temperature.