FRACTAL ANALYSIS OF A DISCOTIC TEXTURE

The dendritic-type texture displayed by low molar mass discotic charge transfer systems possessing a columnar hexagonal ordered phase has been subjected to a fractal analysis. The diffusion limited aggregation approach was used to simulate the growth of the texture. The results are that the texture displays a fractal geometry and that the prominent features of the discotic texture are correctly reflected by the simulated clusters, including the fractal dimension. The conclusion is that the texture is conditioned by the lattice structure of the discotic phase and the kinetic processes, the sticking rules in the terms of diffusion limited aggregation model, responsible for the growth of the texture. © 1990 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.