Tuning gelation with light

Dark and bright memory states stored in the photoactive gel composite

A photo-active gel composite is irradiated with UV light which in turn tunes the gelation behaviour of the system. An interesting phenomenon observed is, the polarity change induced in NLC medium by UV irradiation, drives the interaction between the solvent (NLC) and gelator molecules, which significantly influences gelation. Also, contrasting bright and dark states are obtained in the UV illuminated and pristine gel states respectively, which could be erased only upon melting the gel fibres. Thus, the system is an excellent candidate for permament optical data storage applications. See J. Mater. Chem. C, 2016, 4, 11313-11320.

Posted by S. Vimala