Liquid Crystalline Polymers

Part I: Synthesis, Self-Assembly, and Dynamics.- Structure and Assembly of Liquid Crystalline Block Copolymers.- Columnar Phase-Forming Polymers.- Liquid Crystalline Polymers Derived from Disc-Shaped Molecules.- Mesogen-Jacketed Liquid Crystalline Polymers: Molecular Design and Synthesis.- Supramolecular Self-Assembly of Discotic Liquid Crystalline LEGOs.- Structure and Dynamics of Liquid Crystalline Polymers.- Highlighting Solid-Like Behaviours in Liquid State of Polymers, Liquid Crystals, Glass Formers and Molecular Fluids.- Part II: Functional Liquid Crystalline Polymers and Applications.- Anisotropic Liquid Crystal Networks from Reactive Mesogens.- Liquid Crystalline Conjugated Polymers with Optoelectronic Functions.- Liquid Crystalline Conjugated Polymers.- New Stimuli Responsive Liquid Crystalline Polymer Architectures.- Characterizations of Nanocomposites of Liquid Crystalline Polymers.- Fullerene Liquid Crystals.- Photodeformable Crosslinked Liquid Crystalline Polymers.- LightSensitive Azobenzene Containing Liquid Crystalline Polymers.- Photoresponsive Liquid Crystalline Polymers.- Photoactive Liquid Crystalline Polymers.- Photoalignment of Liquid Crystal Molecules using Fluorine-Containing Polyimides.- Highly Flame-Retardant Liquid Crystalline Polymers.- Gas Permeation and Barrier Properties of Liquid Crystalline Polymers.

Prof. Lei Zhu received his B.S. degree in Materials Chemistry in 1993 and M.S. degree in Polymer Chemistry and Physics in 1996 from Fudan University. He received his Ph.D. degree in Polymer Science from the University of Akron in 2000. After a 2-year postdoctoral experience at the Maurice Morton Institute, University of Akron, he joined the Institute of Materials Science in the Department of Chemical, Materials and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Connecticut as an Assistant Professor. In 2007, Lei was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure. In 2009, he moved to Department of Macromolecular Science and Engineering at Case Western Reserve University as an Associate Professor. Lei was promoted to Full Professor in 2013. His research interests include high polymer and organic-inorganic hybrid nanomaterials for high energy density capacitor applications, development of artificial antibody as nanomedicines, and supramolecular selfassembly of discotic liquid crystals. Lei a is recipient of NSF Career Award, 3M Non-tenured Faculty Award, DuPont Young Professor Award, and Rogers Teaching Excellence Award. He is author/co-author of 190 refereed journal publications and 9 book chapters. He delivered over 170 invited talks and 45 contributed presentations.
Prof. Christopher Li is a Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Drexel University. He received his B.S. degree in Polymer Chemistry from the University of Science and Technology of China in 1995 and his Ph.D. in Polymer Science from the University of Akron in 1999. After working as a postdoc at the Maurice Morton Institute of Polymer Science, University of Akron, for 2 years, he joined the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Drexel University in 2002 as an Assistant Professor and was promoted to Associate and Full Professor in 2007 and 2011, respectively. His research interests center on the structure and morphology of polymers and soft