Phase behavior and self-assembly of liquid-crystalline block copolymers in nematic solvents

Block copolymers (BCP) are an attractive class of materials that can be utilized for active/stimuli-responsive/adaptive materials. The performance of BCPs in various target applications largely relies on their controlled, long-range assembly with high fidelity. In this context, liquid-crystalline BCP (LC BCP) is a compelling material platform because of its ability to control the directional and positional arrangement by leveraging the nature of the LC block. While ranging successful examples have been showcased using LC BCPs in recent years, one may envision that incorporating LC BCPs into other material systems can be the next step forward to open up new possibilities for formulating multi-functional materials. However, neither the fundamental studies on these blend systems nor their useful functionality has been rarely reported thus far. Here, we present the phase behavior and self-assembly of LC BCPs in the blends with other LC materials such as labile mesogens and lamellae-forming block molecules. We demonstrate that LC BCPs are co-assembled with other LC materials with preserving or shifting their original phases as a function of the composition. It is also demonstrated that the blended LC materials can be aligned uniaxially under the magnetic-field.