Tunable command layers for liquid crystal alignment

被引:68
作者
Hoogboom, J [1 ]
Garcia, PML [1 ]
Otten, MBJ [1 ]
Elemans, JAAW [1 ]
Sly, J [1 ]
Lazarenko, SV [1 ]
Rasing, T [1 ]
Rowan, AE [1 ]
Nolte, RJM [1 ]
机构
[1] Radboud Univ Nijmegen, Inst Mol & Mat, NL-6525 ED Nijmegen, Netherlands
关键词
D O I
10.1021/ja051865l
中图分类号
O6 [化学];
学科分类号
0703 ;
摘要
A simple method for the construction of a stable, tunable, self-assembled command layer for liquid crystal display purposes is described. A pyridine-functionalized oligosiloxane spontaneously forms an anisotropic, grooved surface on indium-tin-oxide, enabling it to align liquid crystalline molecules. The pyridine functions act as seeds for the epitaxial growth of stacks of highly ordered zinc phthalocyanines, the height of which can be controlled. These stacks increase the interaction between the surface and the liquid crystalline matrix by amplifying the surface ordering into the liquid crystal bulk. By varying the height of the stacks, direct control over the properties of the liquid crystal domains is achieved. These properties can be further tuned by adding to the liquid crystal, micro- and nanomolar concentrations of nitrogen-containing compounds, which are capable of interacting with and dissolving the stacks. The procedures we describe offer possibilities to use such tunable systems in LCD-based sensor devices as well as in solar-cell applications.
引用
收藏
页码:11047 / 11052
页数:6
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