A poly(ter(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)) showing concentric-circle morphology prepared by electrochemical synthesis in smectic A liquid crystal under vertical strong magnetic field

We report electrochemical polymerization in magnetically aligned smectic A liquid crystal (SmALC). The dimer and trimer of thiophene and ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) are employed as monomers. Horizontally aligned SmALC works as a template for mono-domain polymer films, while vertically aligned SmALC works, interestingly, as a microscale patterning for circular textures. Both polythiophene (PT) and poly(ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) films prepared in horizontally aligned SmALC show high dichroic ratios. On the other hand, those prepared in vertically aligned SmALC form very interesting circle textures: PT forms star-shaped and PEDOT forms concentric-circle orientations with fibril structures. We determine the polymer orientations by polarizing optical microscopy (POM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and linearly polarized UVvis absorption spectroscopy (LPUV-vis).