Thermal phase transition behaviour of liquid crystals in submicron pores formed with stretched polymer fibrils

This paper discusses thermal phase transitions in a nematic liquid crystal material, filling a highly strained porous polyolefin film. Ruptured and aligned polymer fibrils, whose minimum diameter reaches several tens of nm, formed polymer networks in the porous film. From observations of temperature-controlled composite films using a polarizing microscope, it was noted that the isotropic-to-nematic phase transition temperatures of submicron liquid crystal domains, located in or near molecularly aligned streak-like polymer areas, were significantly higher than those located at some distance from these areas. It was assumed that the highly aligned polymer chains in the fine fibrils promote the nematic phase of the liquid crystal. The stretched porous polymer, exhibiting spatial ordering on a submicron scale, is thus suitable for the control of thermal phase transitions in a liquid crystal.