Search results for "Mesophase"

Second harmonic generation in ferroelectric liquid crystalline thiadiazole derivatives

1995

Discotic Liquid Crystals - A New Class of Fast Photoconductors

1993

We showed for the first time that discotic liquid crystals are well suited for a new class of fast photoconducting materials. Due to their spontaneous orientation and their dynamical fluctuations in the mesophase, they show exceptionally high mobilities of 1·10−3 cm2/Vs, about two to three orders of magnitude higher than those obtained for conventional amorphous polymers. Further on, the Gaussian transport (for holes in the mesophase) is remarkable, which is characterized by the existence of a conduction band and the absence of trapping states. In contrast, the charge carrier transport in amorphous photoconductors is generally trap-dominated which limits technical properties, leading to low…

Ordering and dewetting in spin-coated films of a liquid crystalline main chain polymer

2006

Abstract The ordering of spin-coated films of a main-chain smectic liquid crystalline polymer with an azobenzene group connected by flexible spacers to a phenyl malonate unit has been studied as a function of film thickness using scanning force microscopy and UV/Vis spectroscopy. Already the as-prepared films are characterized by a significant out-of-plane orientation of the azobenzene groups. Annealing of films thicker than 7 nm results in aggregation and homeotropical alignment of azobenzene groups forming smectic layers parallel to the substrate. An optically isotropic mesophase was found upon annealing in the temperature range of smectic mesophase. Films thinner than the bilayer thickne…

Electronic Properties of Discotic LC-Materials

1996

Abstract We have made extensive studies of the charge-carrier mobilities in the discotic hexagonal mesophases of triphenylene-based discotic liquid crystals. Using the time-of-flight technique, transient photocurrents were measured yielding charge-carrier mobilities for various electric fields and temperatures. Starting from promising results obtained with the monomeric discotic liquid crystalline model compound hexapentyloxytriphenylene (H5T), we synthesized a “discotic twin” with two triphenylene units linked together by a suitable spacer. Additionally, we synthesized a discotic liquid crystalline oligomer consisting of four triphenylene units which are bound to a flexible cyclosiloxane r…

Fluoroalkylated discotic liquid crystals

1995

Abstract The concept of mesophase stabilization by partial fluorination of side chains has been extended to discotic systems. The mesophase structure is essentially unchanged, whereas the temperature range of the mesophase is strongly affected by the fluorinated side chains. Triphenylene substituted with only one partially fluorinated side chain exhibits a decrease of the clearing temperature, whereas for symmetrically substituted systems a broad range mesophase has been observed. This behaviour can be attributed to a segregation of the incompatible parts of the molecule giving rise to a stabilized columnar structure for the symmetrical substitution pattern.

Photoresponsive Halogen-Bonded Liquid Crystals: The Role of Aromatic Fluorine Substitution

2019

A new strategy for controlling the liquid crystalline and photophysical properties of supramolecular mesogens assembled via halogen bonding is reported. Changing the degree of fluorination at the halogen-bond donor of the supramolecular liquid crystal allows for the fine-tuning of the halogen bond strength and thereby provides control over the temperature range of the mesophase. At least three fluorine atoms have to be present to ensure efficient polarization of the halogen-bond donor and the formation of a mesophase. In addition, it was found that stilbazole acceptors are superior to their azopyridine counterparts in promoting stable liquid crystalline phases. The halogen-bond-driven supra…

Columnar phases from semi-discoid molecules. Phase induction via hydrogen bonding and charge transfer interactions

1991

Abstract To investigate the non-linear optical properties of nitrophenylhydrazones, a series of 4-nitro- and 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazones of substituted aromatic aldehydes were synthesized. It was found that many of the dinitrophenythydrazone derivatives are liquid-crystalline and X-ray investigations show that the mesophase corresponds to a hexagonal columnar structure. To explain this unusual behaviour it is necessary to assume that a mesogenic structure is formed by intramolecular hydrogen bonding of the dinitrophenylhydrazones. Charge transfer induced antiparallel alignment of these moleculer dipoles leads to discoid structures, forming the columnar phases.

Nanostructuring with a crosslinkable discotic material.

2007

A high-yielding synthesis afforded a hexa-peri-hexabenzocoronene carrying acrylate units at the end of six attached alkyl spacers. The polymerization of these acrylate moieties could be initiated with thermal energy and through direct photoactivation without the addition of a photoinitiator. This allowed the organization of the liquid-crystalline material to be fixed in either the crystalline state or the mesophase, which preserved the organization in the respective phase. The use of a focused synchrotron beam permitted selected regions of a thin film to be rendered insoluble. After "developing" the film in this lithographic process by dissolving the soluble, unpolymerized material, defined…

Mesomorphic and electrooptical properties of viologens based on non-symmetric alkyl/polyfluoroalkyl functionalization and on an oxadiazolyl-extended …

2019

Two different sets of ionic liquid crystals based on bistriflimide salts of non-symmetrically substituted polyfluorinated bipyridinium (viologens) and bent symmetrically substituted dialkyl-oxadiazolyl-bipyridinium have been synthesized, in order to study the effect on the mesomorphic and electrooptical properties of the non-symmetric functionalization (alkyl chain and fluoroalkyl chains of different lengths) on the two pyridinium rings and additionally the effect of a bent conjugated spacer among the two pyridinium units of the viologen. POM and DSC characterization show that the synthesized salts have a mesomorphic and, in some cases, polymesomorphic behaviour in a wide thermal range, als…

Monte Carlo simulation in polymer physics: Some recent developments

1991

The computer simulation of macromolecular materials has to deal with phenomena on length scales from 1A to 100A, as well as with time scales ranging over many orders of magnitude, and thus still presents a challenge. With suitably coarse-grained models which disregard detailed information on chemical structure nevertheless collective phenomena can be described, such as unmixing of polymer blends, mesophase ordering of block-copolymer melts, “blob formation” in semidilute solutions, etc. Simulations of such models provide a sensitive test of approximate theories and give valuable hints for experiments.