Imaging of micropatterned self-assembled monolayers with adsorbed liquid crystals |
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| Authors: | Y L Cheng D N Batchelder S D Evans J R Henderson J E Lydon S D Ogier |
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| Institution: | 1. and Centre for Self-Organising Molecular Systems, University of Leeds;2. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Leeds, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK Leeds LS2 9JT, UK |
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| Abstract: | We report a novel method of imaging micropatterned self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) using adsorbed films of thermotropic (smectic or nematic) mesophase which can then be studied by optical microscopy. Three alkylthiols, functionalized with CH3, OH and COOH groups, were used in various combinations to form patterned SAMs. Two alkylcyanobiphenyls (7CB and 9CB) were used as the liquid crystal imaging reagents. The images are formed by the contrast generated by the different alignments of adsorbed smectic or nematic films induced by different regions of the pattern. The spatial resolution is at least to 4 μm. |
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