Topography of bent-core liquid crystals at the air/liquid crystal interface |
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| Authors: | Dong Chen Renfan Shao Joseph E. Maclennan Matthew A. Glaser Eva Korblova David M. Walba |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Physics and Liquid Crystal Materials Research Center, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA;2. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Liquid Crystal Materials Research Center, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA |
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| Abstract: | Bent-core liquid crystals show a variety of novel structures involving the interplay of molecular bend, tilt and polarisation. Here we investigate the microstructures of the B4, B7 and the dark conglomerate (DC) phases at the air/liquid crystal interface. In these phases, bent-core molecules undergo complex self-assembly, forming helical nanofilaments (the B4 phase), layer undulations (the B7 phase) and disordered focal conics (the DC phase) in the bulk. However, due to the fluidity of the phases and the homeotropic alignment at the interface, several different topographies are observed at the air/liquid crystal interface. We will discuss the surface structures discovered so far in the B4, B7 and DC phases and show how they help us to understand the microstructure and the self-assembly of the liquid crystal phases of bent-core molecules. |
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| Keywords: | liquid crystal bent-core free surface microstructure self-assembly |
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