2-Dimensional colloidal micropatterning of cholesteric liquid crystal microcapsules for temperature-responsive color displays

This work offers a promising approach for development of a temperature-responsive colorimetric display platform. For this purpose, uniform thermochromic microcapsules consisting of a cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) core and a thin polyurethane shell layer were fabricated by conducting in-situ condensation polymerization at the interface of monodisperse CLC-in-water emulsion drops. Colloidal packing-driven microcapsule registry led to exact 2-dimensional positioning of CLC microcapsules into a holes-patterned flexible film stencil. Furthermore, we showed that the designated registry of different color types of CLC microcapsules on the stencil enabled development of a microwriting display technology capable of reversible text representation according to temperature change.