Liquid Crystalline Nanoparticles via Polymerization-Induced Self-Assembly: Morphology Evolution and Function Regulation

Liquid crystalline nanoparticles (LC NPs) are a kind of polymer NPs with LC mesogens, which can form special anisotropic morphologies due to the influence of LC ordering. Owing to the stimuli-responsiveness of the LC blocks, LC NPs show abundant morphology evolution behaviors in response to external regulation. LC NPs have great application potential in nano-devices, drug delivery, special fibers and other fields. Polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA) method can synthesize LC NPs at high solid content, reducing the harsh demand for reaction solvent of the LC polymers, being a better choice for large-scale production. In this review, we introduced recent research progress of PISA-LC NPs by dividing them into several parts according to the LC mesogen, and discussed the improvement of experimental conditions and the potential application of these polymers. This review summarized the morphology evolution, stimuli-responsiveness and potential application of liquid crystalline (LC) nanoassemblies by polymerization-induced self-assembly(PISA). Under the regulation of LC ordering and PISA process, LC nanoassemblies showed abundant morphologies and specific formation evolution. According to the LC mesogen, the studies were divided into fluoro-containing, azobenzene, poly(p-phenylene terephthalamide) (PPTA) and others to be introduced respectively.image