New 1,3-dioxan-type ionic liquid crystal compounds having a large dielectric constant

New pyridinium-type thermotropic ionic liquid crystal materials having a 1,3-dioxan ring in its central core: N-substituted-4-(5-alkyl-1,3-dioxan-2-yl)pyridinium bromides (6) were synthesized. The mesomorphic behaviour of these compounds and dielectric constant perpendicular to the molecular axis were measured. The principal features of these compounds are that they exhibit a smectic A phase over a wide temperature range including room temperature - for example 6f: g -9 SmA 181 I (°C)-and they have a large dielectric constant perpendicular to the molecular axis.     

New ionic liquid crystal compounds having a 1,3-dithiane or 1,3-dioxane ring

New pyridinium type thermotropic ionic liquid crystal materials having a 1,3-dithiane ring in the central core N-substituted 4-(5-alkyl-1,3-dithian-2-yl)pyridinium bromides and the corresponding 1,3-dioxanes were synthesized and their mesomorphic behaviours compared. The principal feature of these compounds is to exhibit a smectic A phase over a very wide temperature range including room temperature.     

Liquid crystal properties of new ionic liquid crystal compounds having a 1,3-dioxane ring

New pyridinium type chiral ionic liquid crystal materials having a 1,3-dioxane ring in the central core, (+)- N -2-methylbutyl-4-(5-alkyl-1,3-dioxan-2-yl)pyridinium bromides ( 6 ), were synthesized. Mixture A was made by adding 5.9 wt % of compound 6-3 to the ferroelectric liquid crystal mixture Merck 4655-100; its phase transitions and some liquid crystal properties were measured. In spite of a large decrease of P s for mixture A, its response time A was the same as that of Merck 4655-100. The dielectric constants perpendicular to the molecular axis for the smectic C* and smectic A phases were measured for the mixture and Merck 4655-100: in the smectic C phase, these dielectric constants were almost the same (4.5~5.5), but in the smectic A phase, the perpendicular dielectric constant of the mixture was 47.0 and that of Merck 4655-100 was 4.5.     

Liquid crystal properties of new ionic liquid crystal compounds having a 1,3-dioxane ring

New pyridinium type chiral ionic liquid crystal materials having a 1,3-dioxane ring in the central core, (+)- N -2-methylbutyl-4-(5-alkyl-1,3-dioxan-2-yl)pyridinium bromides (6), were synthesized. Mixture A was made by adding 5.9 wt % of compound 6?3 to the ferroelectric liquid crystal mixture Merck 4655-100; its phase transitions and some liquid crystal properties were measured. In spite of a large decrease of P_s for mixture A, its response time A was the same as that of Merck 4655-100. The dielectric constants perpendicular to the molecular axis for the smectic C* and smectic A phases were measured for the mixture and Merck 4655?100: in the smectic C phase, these dielectric constants were almost the same (4.5～5.5), but in the smectic A phase, the perpendicular dielectric constant of the mixture was 47.0 and that of Merck 4655?100 was 4.5.     

New 1,3-dithiane type ionic liquid crystal compounds

New pyridinium type thermotropic ionic liquid crystal materials having a 1,3-dithiane ring in their central core, N -substituted-4-(5-alkyl-1,3-dithian-2-yl)pyridinium bromides ( 8 ), were synthesized. These compounds exhibited a smectic A phase over a very wide temperature range including room temperature.     

New 1,3-dioxane type ionic liquid crystal materials having a terminal double bond

New 1,3-dioxane type ionic liquid crystal materials having a terminal double bond were synthesized. The mesomorphic behaviour of these compounds was measured. The principal features of these compounds are a smectic A phase over a very wide range including room temperature, and a low isotropic to mesophase transition temperature (for example, compound 6-1: Cr-22 SmA 25 I).     

New 1,3-dioxane type ionic liquid crystal materials having a terminal double bond

New 1,3-dioxane type ionic liquid crystal materials having a terminal double bond were synthesized. The mesomorphic behaviour of these compounds was measured. The principal features of these compounds are a smectic A phase over a very wide range including room temperature, and a low isotropic to mesophase transition temperature (for example, compound 6-1: Cr-22 SmA 25 I).     

Conductive liquid crystalline compounds having a piperazine structure

New conductive thermotropic liquid crystalline materials having a piperazine ring in the central core: 1-[4-(9-decenyloxy)phenyl]-4-alkylpiperazines (6) were synthesized. The mesomorphic behaviours of these compounds and their conductivity in the liquid crystal phase were measured. The principal features of these compounds are to exhibit a smectic B phase around room temperature (for example 6: Cr 50 SmB 81 I, °C) and to exhibit a large dark current (6d: 430 μA cm^?2, applied voltage 20 V, at 70°C) in the smectic B phase.     

Conductive liquid crystalline compounds having a piperazine structure

New conductive thermotropic liquid crystalline materials having a piperazine ring in the central core: 1-[4-(9-decenyloxy)phenyl]-4-alkylpiperazines ( 6 ) were synthesized. The mesomorphic behaviours of these compounds and their conductivity in the liquid crystal phase were measured. The principal features of these compounds are to exhibit a smectic B phase around room temperature (for example 6 : Cr 50 SmB 81 I, °C) and to exhibit a large dark current (6d: 430 μA cm^-2, applied voltage 20 V, at 70°C) in the smectic B phase.     

Non-linear dielectric response of a ferroelectric liquid crystal

Dielectric spectroscopy is a very useful method for investigation of the structure and dynamics of liquid crystals. However, with few exceptions, most investigations have been only in the linear regime. In this note we present a simple method for extraction of the non-linear contributions to the dielectric constant and as an example give the results obtained for a ferroelectric liquid crystal.     

Reverse mode operation polymer dispersed liquid crystal with a positive dielectric anisotropy liquid crystal

The development of electrically activated chromogenic materials is important for their potential applications in smart windows. Several previous works have reported on reverse mode operation polymer dispersed liquid crystals (PDLCs) based on negative dielectric anisotropy liquid crystals. They have a transparent OFF state, which turns opaque after the application of a suitable external electric field. Nevertheless, these devices have some limitations such as the use of large amount of expensive liquid crystals with peculiar physical‐chemical properties. In addition, a good matching between the refractive index of liquid crystal and the polymer matrix one is required. The main result of this work is the achievement of reverse mode operation devices prepared with a positive dielectric anisotropy liquid crystal and characterized by a high OFF state transmittance obtained by the onset of high intensity built‐in DC electric fields in a direct mode operation PDLC, which allows the OFF state homeotropic alignment of liquid crystal directors. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys, 2011     

Proton transport properties in an ionic liquid having a hydroxyl group

An ionic liquid having a hydroxyl group, choline bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)amide ([N(111(2OH))][N(Tf)(2)]), was synthesized to investigate the effect of hydroxyl groups on the proton transport. 1,1,1-Trifluoro-N-(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)methanesulfoneamide (HN(Tf)(2)) as a proton source was mixed with the choline derivative at various molar ratios. Their thermal properties, viscosities, and ionic conductivities were investigated. [N(111(2OH))][N(Tf)(2)] showed a melting point at 27 °C, and its thermal stability was higher than 400 °C. The viscosity of [N(111(2OH))][N(Tf)(2)]/HN(Tf)(2) mixtures increased as the acid molar fraction increased. The ionic conductivity of [N(111(2OH))][N(Tf)(2)] was 2.1 × 10(-3) S cm(-1) at 25 °C; the ionic conductivity monotonously decreased as the acid molar fraction increased. There was a clear correlation between the ionic conductivity and the viscosity for the mixtures of the choline derivative and the acid. PFG-NMR measurements were carried out to investigate the diffusion behavior of protons. Although the acid and the hydroxyl group were indistinguishable by (1)H NMR, the self-diffusion coefficient of the (1)H of the hydroxyl group and the acid was larger than those of other (1)H nuclei. This difference suggests that a fast intermolecular proton transfer exists between the hydroxyl group and the acid.     

The high frequency dielectric response of a ferroelectric liquid crystal

Abstract

The temperature and frequency dependences of the complex dielectric susceptibility of a ferroelectric liquid crystal near the smectic C*-smectic A phase transition have been calculated using the classical and generalized Landau models. It is shown that although the dielectric response of the S*_C phase consists generally of four modes (soft, Goldstone, and two high frequency polarization modes) only three bands appear in the dielectric loss spectrum of ferroelectric liquid crystals at the S_A–S*_C phase transition. These results are in agreement with recent experimental data.     

Short-focus nematic liquid crystal microlens array with a dielectric layer

ABSTRACT

A short-focus microlens array using dielectric layer and inhomogeneous electric field over a homogeneous nematic liquid crystal (LC) layer is proposed. The top substrate has a planar indium tin oxide (ITO) electrode which is coated on the inner surface. The bottom substrate has strip ITO electrodes which are embedded in the dielectric layers. The inhomogeneous electric field generates a required gradient refractive index profile within the LC layer which, in turn, causes the focusing effect. Due to the thinner LC layer (15 μm), the spherical aberration should be negligible. Moreover, the fabrication process of the proposed microlens array can be easily carried out because of the layer-by-layer configuration. The simulation results show that the focal length of the LC microlens can be continuously tuned from infinity to 0.988 mm with the change of applied voltage.     

A greener electrochromic liquid crystal based on ionic liquid electrolytes

An electrochromic liquid crystal (ECLC) material composed of only liquid crystal (LC) and ionic liquid (IL) was developed. The LC containing the substituted diphenylacetylene serves as electrochromic (EC) material to realise transmittance and colour change under the direct current (DC) field, while the IL with the designable cation and anion served as electrolyte. Herein, a series of IL electrolytes was screened to investigate how IL tunes the electro-optic performance of the ECLC cell. By testing the electrochemistry window of ILs in EC cells, IL with the [NTf₂]^? anion shows adequate electrochemical stability when the EC material undergoes oxidation and reduction. The electro-optic performance of ECLC containing 1-ethoxy-4-[2-(4-pentylphenyl) ethynyl]-benzene (PEB) and IL was then evaluated by UV-vis spectrometry under the control of an electrochemical work station. Compared with other PEB-IL, PEB-[Bmim][NTf₂] with [Bmim][NTf₂] electrolyte shows a satisfactory transmittance at low operating voltage. Furthermore, Pd NPs in situ formed in [Bmim][NTf₂] reduced the EC potential and improved the light scattering of the ECLC cell. In this work, we also designed a bifunctional device based on polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) that hosts electrochromic guest molecules, and analysed the electro-optical and electrochromic properties of LC electrolyte mixtures, in order to gain control of the incident daylight and glare in building and automotive applications.     

New laterally aromatic branched liquid crystal materials with large nematic ranges

Abstract

Three new homologous series of mesogens containing three rings in the main structure and a lateral aromatic branch have been synthesized. When the lateral aromatic branch is attached to the middle ring, monotropic phases are observed, and there is a strong tendency to form the smectic C phase. When the lateral aromatic branch is attached to an outer ring, the compounds possess purely enantiotropic nematic phases. The terminal alkoxy chain in the outer ring which has a lateral aromatic substituent can be replaced by a rigid group without disturbing the large nematic range. Selective introduction of a particular substitutent may be useful for the construction of devices possessing desirable characteristics such as non-linear optical properties.     

Novel liquid crystalline compounds having an enyne unit

Novel series of liquid crystalline compounds having an enyne unit, 1-(4-alkylphenyl)-4-(trans-4-alkylcyclohexyl)-but-3-en-1-yne and 1-(4-alkoxyphenyl)-4-(trans-4-alkylcyclohexyl)-but-3-en-1-yne are presented. The synthetic methods, mesomorphic phases, and some physical properties of these series are reported.     

Electro-optic characteristics of the fringe in-plane switching liquid crystal device for a liquid crystal with negative dielectric anisotropy

Fringe-field switching (FFS) liquid crystal (LC) mode is mainly used for high-end LC displays. At present, an LC with positive dielectric anisotropy is utilised, although light efficiency of the device in a white state is not maximised due to generation of tilt angle near the edge of electrodes along the field direction. In order to overcome the demerit, an LC with negative dielectric anisotropy has been challenged. In this article, FFS mode, which shows a high light efficiency and a low operating voltage, is investigated with the utilisation of fringe in-plane electric field. The optimised device shows improved electro-optic characteristics in comparison with not only conventional LC modes, but also previously proposed FFS device using a positive type of LC.     

Dynamics of a supercooled ionic liquid studied by optical and dielectric spectroscopy

We have measured the dynamics of solvation of a triplet state probe, quinoxaline, in the glass-forming ionic liquid dibutylammonium formate near its glass transition temperature Tg=153 K. The Stokes-shift correlation function displays a relaxation time dispersion of considerable magnitude and the optical line width changes systematically along the solvation coordinate. The solvent dynamics in the viscous regime is compared with the rotational behavior of the solute and with the dielectric relaxation of the ionic liquid. Among the different quantities derived from the dielectric experiments, the relaxation of the macroscopic electric field, i.e., the modulus Mt, matches best the solvent response Ct regarding time scale and stretching exponent. Many other properties are reminiscent of the behavior of polar molecular liquids which lack the ionic character.     

Nanostructure and dielectric properties of a twist-bend nematic liquid crystal mixture

We present freeze-fracture transmission electron microscopy (FF-TEM), dielectric spectroscopy and electro-optic measurements on a dimeric liquid crystal mixture, which previously was proposed to form the twist-bend nematic (N_tb) phase. Our FF-TEM studies provide a direct image of a 10.5 nm periodic structure, consistent with the expected nanoscale, heliconical twist-bend modulation of the molecular orientation. Dielectric measurements in the 100 Hz to 10 MHz range reveal three nearly Debye-type dispersion processes in the nematic and the twist-bend phase. Low frequency 8 V/µm electric fields applied on planar cells cause the optical-scale stripe texture (another characteristic feature of the N_tb phase) to disappear. Higher (>16 V/µm) fields gradually realign the heliconical axis along the electric field; it relaxes back after the field removal.