Understanding the twist-bend nematic phase: the characterisation of 1-(4-cyanobiphenyl-4'-yloxy)-6-(4-cyanobiphenyl-4'-yl)hexane (CB6OCB) and comparison with CB7CB

The synthesis and characterisation of the nonsymmetric liquid crystal dimer, 1-(4-cyanobiphenyl-4'-yloxy)-6-(4-cyanobiphenyl-4'-yl)hexane (CB6OCB) is reported. An enantiotropic nematic (N)-twist-bend nematic (NTB) phase transition is observed at 109 °C and a nematic-isotropic phase transit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Soft matter 2016-01, Vol.12 (32), p.6827-6840
Main Authors: Paterson, Daniel A, Gao, Min, Kim, Young-Ki, Jamali, Afsoon, Finley, Kirsten L, Robles-Hernández, Beatriz, Diez-Berart, Sergio, Salud, Josep, de la Fuente, M Rosario, Timimi, Bakir A, Zimmermann, Herbert, Greco, Cristina, Ferrarini, Alberta, Storey, John M D, López, David O, Lavrentovich, Oleg D, Luckhurst, Geoffrey R, Imrie, Corrie T
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cristalls líquids
Dimers
Enginyeria química
Field theory
Física
Física molecular
Heat capacity
Hexane
Hexanes
High resolution transmission electron microscopy
Liquid crystals
Mathematical models
Microscòpia electrònica de transmissió
Nematic
Nematic liquid crystals
Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy
Order parameters
Phase transformations
Química física
Specific heat
Termodinàmica
Thermodynamics
Transmission electron microscopy
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC
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Summary:The synthesis and characterisation of the nonsymmetric liquid crystal dimer, 1-(4-cyanobiphenyl-4'-yloxy)-6-(4-cyanobiphenyl-4'-yl)hexane (CB6OCB) is reported. An enantiotropic nematic (N)-twist-bend nematic (NTB) phase transition is observed at 109 °C and a nematic-isotropic phase transition at 153 °C. The NTB phase assignment has been confirmed using polarised light microscopy, freeze fracture transmission electron microscopy (FFTEM), (2)H-NMR spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction. The effective molecular length in both the NTB and N phases indicates a locally intercalated arrangement of the molecules, and the helicoidal pitch length in the NTB phase is estimated to be 8.9 nm. The surface anchoring properties of CB6OCB on a number of aligning layers is reported. A Landau model is applied to describe high-resolution heat capacity measurements in the vicinity of the NTB-N phase transition. Both the theory and heat capacity measurements agree with a very weak first-order phase transition. A complementary extended molecular field theory was found to be in suggestive accord with the (2)H-NMR studies of CB6OCB-d2, and those already known for CB7CB-d4. These include the reduced transition temperature, TNTBN/TNI, the order parameter of the mesogenic arms in the N phase close to the NTB-N transition, and the order parameter with respect to the helix axis which is related to the conical angle for the NTB phase.
ISSN:1744-683X
1744-6848
DOI:10.1039/c6sm00537c