Modulating the Conductivity of Light-Responsive Ionic Liquid Crystals

In this work, we describe the phase behaviour and the dielectric and conductivity response of new light-responsive ionic liquid crystals, ILCs, which can be applied as controllable electrolytes. The materials include two different dicationic viologens, the asymmetric 6BP18 and the symmetric EV2ON(Tf)₂, containing bistriflimide as the counterions, mixed with 5% and 50% molar, respectively, of one new photoresponsive mesogen called CNAzO14. These mixtures exhibit liquid crystal behaviour, light responsiveness through the <i>E</i>-<i>Z</i> photoisomerisation of the azobenzene groups in CNAzO14, and strong dielectric responses. The 5%-CNAzO14/Ev2ON(Tf)₂ mixture displays direct current conductivities in the 10^-7 S·cm^-1 range, which can be increased by a two-fold factor upon the irradiation of UV light at 365 nm. Our findings set the grounds for designing new smart ionic soft materials with nanostructures that can be tuned and used for energy conversion and storage applications.