Liquid Crystal-Templated Membranes with Slit-like Pores

We report on the formation of membranes with slit-like pores having aspect ratios ~ 10. Liquid crystals (fluids with orientational order) were used to template the membranes resulting in pores geometries that show a significant departure from conventional spherical shapes. Both the nematic-isotropic transition temperature of the templating liquid crystal and the glass transition temperature of the polymer influenced the membrane properties, including pore size, pore shape and membrane rigidity. Importantly, at the same reduced temperature of the LC/polymer-precursor mixture we were able to reproduce the membrane characteristics for a range of concentrations.