Molecular design and synthesis of materials with so-called liquid-crystalline properties, which are liquids with a certain degree of organisation on molecular level. This molecular organization lends these materials a range of unique properties that have become the basis of the most widespread liquid crystal display (LCD) technology. The centre of interest is the development of advanced liquid-crystalline materials with special properties and their combinations via incorporation of one or more new functional elements into the molecules of the material.
Examples are photosensitive polymer materials and their composites, which respond not only to an electrical signal but also to a light signal. The developed materials of this type, for example, demonstrated the possibilities of optical writing and data storage. In the frame of research and development of the above mentioned photosensitive and other functional polymeric materials and composites based on liquid crystals, the possibilities of utilization of various polymerisable or other reactive groups are studied by means of which functional molecules can be attached to a polymer or a nanoparticle surface.
The prepared materials are studied by spectrometric, optical and other physical and physicochemical methods in order to understand the relationships between their molecular structure and properties. The aim is basic research and development of materials for modern electronics and optics, which will not only allow the significant miniaturization of e.g. optical elements, but will also lower the power consumption.
