Photo-aligned blend films of azobenzene-containing polyimides with and without side-chains for inducing inclined alignment of liquid crystal molecules.

We have succeeded in controlling the pretilt angle of liquid crystal (LC) molecules over the whole range of 0 to 90° by using photo-aligned blend films of two azobenzene-containing polyimides (Azo-PIs) with and without side-chains. The Azo-PIs were synthesized from pyromellitic dianhydride and a mixture of 4,4′-diaminoazobenzene and 4-(4′-propylbi(cyclohexan)-4-yl)phenyl 3,5-diaminobenzoate (PBCP-DABA). PBCP-DABA is a diamine to introduce a side-chain structure into the polyimide. Defect-free uniform LC alignment was obtained in the pretilt angle (θp) ranges of θp ≤ 11° and θp ≥ 78°. Previously, we reported that the pretilt angle can be controlled using pure photo-aligned films of Azo-PIs with different molar fractions of PBCP-DABA. For the pure photo-aligned films, the defect-free pretilt angle ranges were θp < 5° and θp ≥ 85°. These results suggest that the azimuthal anchoring strength of the blend Azo-PI film is stronger than that of the pure films of Azo-PIs with side-chains, at least for the pretilt angle range from 5 to 11°. We found that the defect-free pretilt angle range can be extended by using the blend Azo-PI films instead of the pure Azo-PI films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]