The Langmuir-Blodgett Technique as a Tool for Homeotropic Alignment of Fluorinated Liquid Crystals Mixed with Arachidic Acid
نویسندگان
چکیده
Some fluoro-substituted liquid crystals mixed with arachidic acid in monolayers formed at air-liquid (Langmuir films) and air-solid substrate (Langmuir-Blodgett films) interfaces were investigated. Molecular organization in Langmuir films was determined on the basis of the analysis of the shape of the surface pressure-mean molecular area isotherm and observations made by means of a Brewster angle microscope. It was found that in the compression process the liquid crystal molecules are pushed out towards the top of the first monolayer being in direct contact with the subphase. Langmuir films were transferred onto the quartz substrates at various surface pressures and mono- and multilayered Langmuir-Blodgett films were obtained. The films were characterized using electronic absorption measurements. The conditions for obtaining the homeotropic orientation of the liquid crystal molecules were determined.
منابع مشابه
Langmuir Blodgett films of arachidic acid and N4 molecules: characterization and use in homeotropic alignment of N4
We study the behavior of a mixed Langmuir monolayer consisting of a fatty acid and a nematic liquid crystal. We demonstrate that the mixed monolayer successfully transfers as a Langmuir-Blodgett film and characterize the transferred film using UV spectroscopy. An important application of Langmuir-Blodgett films is in the alignment of liquid crystals for electro-optical applications, such as dis...
متن کاملSensitive methods for estimating the anchoring strength of nematic liquid crystals on Langmuir-Blodgett monolayers of fatty acids.
The anchoring of the nematic liquid crystal N-(p-methoxybenzylidene)-p-butylaniline (MBBA) on Langmuir-Blodgett monolayers of fatty acids (COOHC(n)H(2n+1)) was studied as a function of the length of the fatty acid alkyl chain n (n=15,17,19,21). The monolayers were deposited onto glass plates coated with indium tin oxide, which were used to assemble sandwich cells of various thicknesses that wer...
متن کاملHomeotropic alignment of lyotropic chromonic liquid crystals using noncovalent interactions.
We report on the homeotropic alignment of lyotropic chromonic liquid crystals (LCLCs). Homeotropic anchoring of LCLCs is difficult to achieve, and this challenge has limited development of applications for LCLCs. In this work, homeotropic alignment is achieved using noncovalent interactions between the LCLC molecules and various alignment layers including graphene, parylene films, poly(methyl m...
متن کاملPhase separation in mixed monolayers of arachidic acid and a phthalocyanine of zinc
Mixed Langmuir and Langmuir-Blodgett films of dissimilar components, arachidic acid and a phthalocyanine of zinc, have been investigated. These compounds form mixed films with phase separation, with domains at the sub-micro scale which are detected by AFM in LB films but not observed by BAM. These domains present different contrast in the surface potential images obtained with SP-AFM and in the...
متن کاملPhase-separation of mixed surfactant monolayers: a comparison of film morphology at the solid-air and liquid-air interfaces.
The morphologies of phase-separated monolayer films prepared from two different binary mixtures of perfluorocarbons and hydrocarbons have been examined and compared, for the first time, at the solid-air and liquid-air interfaces. Films were comprised of binary mixtures of arachidic acid (C(19)H(39)COOH) with perfluorotetradecanoic acid (C(13)F(27)COOH) and of palmitic acid (C(15)H(31)COOH) with...
متن کامل