A superfast responsive and ultrathin self-constructed bilayer nanoarchitecture for automatic vertical orientation of liquid crystals

Abstract Ultrathin bilayer nanoarchitectures are structurally and functionally tunable yet robust, which are hierarchical building blocks with a wide range of applications from flexible displays to wearable optoelectronic devices. Here, we report an unprecedented cost-effective fabrication strategy to construct an ultrathin, superfast responsive, and highly durable bilayer nanoarchitecture for automatic vertical arrangement of liquid crystals (LCs) by using the spontaneous and cooperative self-construction of small mesogenic amphiphiles. The self-constructed bilayer nanoarchitecture is achieved by the simple doping and subsequent in situ self-assembly of a small amount of mesogenic amphiphiles in the confined cell geometry. It is experimentally demonstrated that an ultrathin and rough bilayer nanoarchitecture with vertical nanopillar array formed by surficial hydrogen bonding and cooperative π–π interaction of mesogenic amphiphiles enables an automatic vertical orientation of LC molecules to be realized during self-construction process. In addition, this simple approach provides a superfast responsive and highly reliable nanoarchitecture with a greatly enhanced electro-optical switching performance compared to conventional polyimide alignment layer. The ultrafast response time of 1.5 ms, which is more than ten times faster than that obtained from a conventional alignment layer, and low voltage driving achieving about 33% energy savings are accomplished by our method.