Hexagonal Defect Array Formed under Steady Shear Flow in Water-in-Cholesteric Liquid Crystal Emulsions

The relation between the liquid crystalline textures and the steady shear viscosity has been investigated in cholesteric emulsions, composed of water, surfactants, and cholesteric liquid crystals. Both at the substrate surface and at the surfactant-coated droplet surface, a homeotropic anchoring is enforced to the adjacent liquid crystal. Under a steady shear flow with the shear rate below 100 s^–1, we observed that point defects spontaneously appear, and tend to adopt a regular hexagonal arrangement in the low shear-rate range of 1–20 s^–1. In viscosity measurements, the shear-thinning behavior was found, showing a clear correspondence to the texture change. We estimated the height of point defects in the hexagonal array from the viscosity increase in the shear-thinning, assuming that the shear-thinning behavior is caused by the reduction of the effective gap between cone and plate, owing to the presence of the hexagonal array anchored on the plate. The relation between the estimated height and the measured lateral size of point defects agreed with that of the quadrilateral array, which is formed after termination of the shear. This agreement informs that the shape of a point defect is preserved in both defect arrays, independently of shearing conditions.     

介晶现象与液晶高分子

在物质的介晶态中着重讨论了液晶态的高分子,讨论了高分子液晶的类型和特点及高分子的结构、结构单元对液晶形成和转化条件等的影响,指出了通过结构设计加以控制的原则和途径。     

BAND-LIKE TEXTURE OF ETHYLCYANOETHYL CELLULOSE MESOPHASE

In the ethyl-cyanoethylcellulose ((E-CE)C)/dichloroacetic acid (DCA) cholesteric liquid crystalline solution, the hand-like texture is formed when the mesophase aggregates with the disk-like texture grow to big enough and merge with each other with increasing concentration. The band-like texture is composed of parallel equidistant bright and dark alternative strips which are about 0.2-2.0 μm in width. In the band-like texture, the layers of ordered polymer chains are perpendicular to the solution film and the axes of helicoids are parallel to it. The width of the strips is different in different zones. Under the effect of an external magnetic field, the strips in the band-like texture first become wider and then narrower gradually.Moreover, the axes of helicoids in the (E-CE) C/DCA mesomorphic solution change from the direction normal to the magnetic field to the agreement with the magnetic field direction.     

CHOLESTERIC LIQUID CRYSTALLINE CHARACTER ON THE SURFACE OF CHITOSAN/POLYACRYLIC ACID COMPOSITES*

The cholesteric liquid crystalline structure in chitosan/polyacrylic acid composite films was studied by surfacetechniques. A periodical lamellar-like structure was observed in the permanganic acid etched film sufface by both scanningelectron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM), instead of the thumb-print texture which can be detectedwith polarized optical microscopy. It is suggested that the periodical lamellar-like structure is induced by the etchingselectivity between cholesteric layers due to different molecular arrangement on the film surface. Four kinds of perpendiculardisclinations, i.e. χ→τ→λ~+, χ→λ+τ~+, χ→τ+τ~+ and χ→λ~- +λ~+, were found in the composite films from SEMobservations. The smallest periodicity of lamellar-like structure (equals to half pitch) is 20～40 nm measured with AFM.     

甲壳素类液晶高分子的研究Ⅲ.取代度和分子量对氰乙基壳聚糖液晶性的影响

研究了氰乙基取代度和分子量两种结构因素对氰乙基壳聚糖（ＣＮＣＳ） 溶致液晶性的影响,结果表明取代度的变化（ 从０－３６ 变化到１－２１） 对ＣＮＣＳ在二氯乙酸（ＤＣＡ） 中的临界浓度基本没有影响,而随着分子量的提高,ＣＮＣＳ溶致液晶的临界浓度显著降低．临界浓度存在大的分子量依赖性表明ＣＮＣＳ有较大的链刚性．     

光致变色液晶高分子研究（Ⅲ）──含胆甾介晶基元和偶氮苯光色基元侧链共聚硅氧烷的液晶行为

用热台偏光显微镜、Ｘ射线衍射和ＤＳＣ研究了含胆甾介晶基元和偶氮苯光色基元侧链共聚硅氧烷（ＰＳＩ）的液晶性．将非介晶基元并入液晶均聚物，所得共聚物的液晶态类型不变，仍显示近晶型织构，在ＰＳＩ共聚物中，保持液晶性的含介晶基元单体的最低极限组成为６０ｍｏｌ％．在液晶性存在的范围内，共聚物的清亮点由１３０℃升至１７０℃，液晶共聚物的热稳定性随非介晶组分含量的增加而增强．     

Achiral Dichroic Dyes-mediated Circularly Polarized Emission Regulated by Orientational Order Parameter through Cholesteric Liquid Crystals

It is noteworthy that cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) platforms have been witnessed in high-performance circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) behaviors through the highly organized chiral co-assembled arrangement of achiral dyes. However, most CPL-active design strategies are closely relative to the helix co-assembly structure of CLC rather than achiral dyes. Herein, we developed an intriguing regulation strategy for CPL-active CLC materials. They were regulated using the orientational order parameter (S_F) of achiral dichroic dyes as an incisive probe for the order arrangement degree of achiral dyes in CLC media. The I-shaped phenothiazine derivative PHECN dye (S_F=0.30) emitted a strong CPL signal (|g_lum|=0.47). In contrast, the T-shaped derivative (PHEBen) dye (S_F=0.09) showed a weak circular polarization level (|g_lum|=0.07) at similar CLC textures. Most interestingly, this kind of dichroic PHECN dye with a higher S_F could greatly improve the contrast ratio of CPL (Δg_lum=0.47) and emission intensity (ΔFL=46.0 %) at direct-current electric field compared with the T-shaped PHEBen (Δg_lum=0.07 and ΔFL=1.0 %) in CLC. This work demonstrates that an induced CPL emission can be mediated using achiral dichroic dye, which will open a new avenue for developing excellent CPL-active display materials.     

Cholesteric liquid crystals with tunable defect inside as polarization azimuth rotation amplifiers and polarization azimuth stabilizers

In the present paper, we investigate the polarization properties of the cholesteric liquid crystals (CLCs) with an isotropic/anisotropic defect inside them, and possibilities of amplification of the polarization plane rotation and stabilization of the light polarization azimuth by these systems are investigated.     

甲壳素类液晶高分子的研究--用CD谱研究N-邻苯二甲酰化壳聚糖溶致胆甾相的形成临界浓度

N邻苯二甲酰化壳聚糖在多种常见有机溶剂中能形成胆甾液晶相.用圆偏光二向色性谱(CD)研究了N邻苯二甲酰化壳聚糖的DMF、DMSO、DMAC和吡啶4种溶剂体系,在形成溶致胆甾液晶相前后的手性变化信息.CD谱图上观测到两类吸收,即在400nm附近较宽的吸收和330nm附近较尖锐的吸收.前者归属于胆甾相层片的超分子螺旋构象,而后者可以归属于分子链的螺旋构象.圆偏光二向色性可以作为测量胆甾液晶临界浓度的一种手段,它能捕捉到胆甾螺旋层片出现那一瞬间的浓度,以CD谱上在波长400nm左右刚出现肩峰的浓度为临界浓度,其值均比偏光显微镜法低1%,说明其灵敏度比偏光显微镜法高,且避免了偏光显微镜法的某种主观性.分别用两种方法旋转玻片进行CD测试,结果证明线性二向色性分量和双折射分量对胆甾层片螺旋的CD信号强度没有大的影响.     

磁场对乙基纤维素胆甾型液晶相的影响

高分子胆甾型液晶相是一个在高分子和液晶领域都引起广泛兴趣的课题,不仅因为自然界中的多种生物大分子,如纤维素,多肽,DNA等可以形成胆甾型液晶相;而且由于胆甾相具有特殊的螺旋结构(如图1所示),能产生一些特殊的光学性能,如强烈的旋光性,圆二色性和选择性反射光性能等;并带来相应的应用,正是由于高分子胆甾相材料的性能和应用,使得高分子胆甾相液晶的相态转变和结构变化也一直倍受关注。