TY - JOUR A1 - Li, Z. A1 - Raab, A. A1 - Kolmangadi, Mohamed Aejaz A1 - Busch, M. A1 - Grunwald, M. A1 - Demel, F. A1 - Bertram, F. A1 - Kityk, A. V. A1 - Schönhals, Andreas A1 - Laschat, S. A1 - Huber, P. T1 - Self-Assembly of Ionic Superdiscs in Nanopores JF - ACS Nano N2 - Discotic ionic liquid crystals (DILCs) consist of self-assembled superdiscs of cations and anions that spontaneously stack in linear columns with high one-dimensional ionic and electronic charge mobility, making them prominent model systems for functional soft matter. Compared to classical nonionic discotic liquid crystals, many liquid crystalline structures with a combination of electronic and ionic conductivity have been reported, which are of interest for separation membranes, artificial ion/proton conducting membranes, and optoelectronics. Unfortunately, a homogeneous alignment of the DILCs on the macroscale is often not achievable, which significantly limits the applicability of DILCs. Infiltration into nanoporous solid scaffolds can, in principle, overcome this drawback. However, due to the experimental challenges to scrutinize liquid crystalline order in extreme spatial confinement, little is known about the structures of DILCs in nanopores. Here, we present temperaturedependent high-resolution optical birefringence measurement and 3D reciprocal space mapping based on synchrotron X-ray scattering to investigate the thermotropic phase behavior of dopamine-based ionic liquid crystals confined in cylindrical channels of 180 nm diameter in macroscopic anodic aluminum oxide membranes. As a function of the membranes’ hydrophilicity and thus the molecular anchoring to the pore walls (edge-on or face-on) and the variation of the hydrophilic−hydrophobic balance between the aromatic cores and the alkyl side chain motifs of the superdiscs by tailored chemical synthesis, we find a particularly rich phase behavior, which is not present in the bulk state. It is governed by a complex interplay of liquid crystalline elastic energies (bending and splay deformations), polar interactions, and pure geometric confinement and includes textural transitions between radial and axial alignment of the columns with respect to the long nanochannel axis. Furthermore, confinement-induced continuous order formation is observed in contrast to discontinuous first-order phase transitions, which can be quantitatively described by Landau-de Gennes free energy models for liquid crystalline order transitions in confinement. Our observations suggest that the infiltration of DILCs into nanoporous solids allows tailoring their nanoscale texture and ion channel formation and thus their electrical and optical functionalities over an even wider range than in the bulk state in a homogeneous manner on the centimeter scale as controlled by the monolithic nanoporous scaffolds. KW - Ionic Liquid Crystals KW - Nanopropous materials KW - Landau de-Gennes analysis KW - X-ray scattering KW - Optical birefringence PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-600797 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.4c01062 SP - 1 EP - 13 PB - ACS AN - OPUS4-60079 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kolmangadi, Mohamed A. A1 - Zhuoqing, L. A1 - Smales, Glen Jacob A1 - Pauw, Brian Richard A1 - Wuckert, E. A1 - Raab, A. A1 - Laschat, S. A1 - Huber, P. A1 - Schönhals, Andreas T1 - Confinement-suppressed phase transition and dynamic self-assembly of ionic superdiscs in ordered nanochannels: Implication for nanoscale applications JF - ACS Applied Nano Materials N2 - Ionic Liquid Crystals are ionic liquids that exhibit liquid crystalline mesomorphism together with ionic conductivity. As known confined liquid crystal mesophases can show an anomalous dynamics and phase behavior. Investigations considering the factors controlling the macroscopic properties of ILCs in confinement are scare in the literature. This study reports the molecular mobility, and the phase transition behavior of a guanidinium based columnar ILC confined in the nanopores of self-ordered anodic aluminum oxide membranes of various pore diameters (25 – 180 nm) using Broadband Dielectric Spectroscopy (BDS), calorimetry and X-ray scattering. It is aimed to reveal in which way the pore size as well as the pore surface wettability (hydrophobic or hydrophilic) alters the molecular dynamics, and phase transition behavior for this system. These properties are crucial for applications. The DSC investigations reveal: (i) the phase transition temperature for the transition from the plastic crystalline to the crystalline-liquid state has non-monotonic dependence versus the inverse pore diameter and (ii) the transition from the liquid crystalline to the isotropic phase is suppressed for all nanoconfined samples. This transition suppressed in the thermal signal was evidenced by BDS and X-ray scattering. It is discussed as a continuous phase transition taking place in the pores instead of a discontinuous first order transition as observed for the bulk. BDS investigations show different relaxation processes for the bulk and the nanoconfined ILC. Molecular origins for various relaxation processes are discussed and suggested. It is further shown that the self-assembly of this ILC is dynamic in nature which might apply for other ILCs too. The obtained results will have implications for the nanoscale applications of ionic liquid crystals. KW - Ionic Liquid Crystals PY - 2023 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acsanm.3c02473 VL - 6 IS - 17 SP - 15673 EP - 15684 PB - ACS AN - OPUS4-58210 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kolmangadi, Mohamed Aejaz A1 - Smales, Glen Jacob A1 - ZhuoQing, Li A1 - Yildirim, Arda A1 - Wuckert, E. A1 - Eutionnat, S. A1 - Demel, F. A1 - Huber, P A1 - Lasachat, S. A1 - Schönhals, Andreas T1 - Side Chain Length-Dependent Dynamics and Conductivity in Self-Assembled Ion JF - The Journal of Physical Chemistry C N2 - We study the molecular mobility and electrical conductivity of a homologous series of linear shaped columnar ionic liquid crystals ILCn, (n = 8, 10, 12, 14, 16) using broadband dielectric spectroscopy (BDS), specific heat spectroscopy (SHS), and X-ray scattering. We aim to understand how the alkyl chain length influences the dynamics and electric conductivity in this system. Two dielectrically active relaxation modes are observed, the γ and the αcore process, that correspond to the localized fluctuations of the alkyl chains and cooperative motions of the aromatic core in the columns, respectively. Both the γ relaxation and the αcore process slow down with increasing alkyl chain length. SHS reveals one relaxation process, the αalkyl process that has a similar temperature dependence as that of the αcore process for ILC12, 14, and 16 but shifts to higher temperature for ILC8 and 10. For ILC12, 14, and 16, the absolute values of DC conductivity increase by 4 orders of magnitude at the transition from the plastic crystalline to hexagonal columnar phase. For ILC8 and 10, the DC conductivity behavior is similar to ionic liquids, where the conductivity is coupled with structural relaxation. Small-angle X-ray investigations reveal that both the intercolumnar distance and the disorder coherence length increase with alkyl chain length; conversely, the DC conductivity decreases monotonically. KW - Ionic Liquid Crystals PY - 2022 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.2c03023 SN - 1932-7447 VL - 126 IS - 27 SP - 10995 EP - 11006 PB - ACS AN - OPUS4-55194 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Yildirim, Arda A1 - Szymoniak, Paulina A1 - Sentker, Kathrin A1 - Huber, Patrick A1 - Schönhals, Andreas T1 - Molecular Mobility and Ionic Conductivity of Ionic Liquid Crystals Forming a Hexagonal Columnar Mesophase N2 - For the first time, the molecular mobility of two linear-shaped tetramethylated guanidinium triflates ionic liquid crystals (ILCs) having different length of alkyl chains was investigated by a combination of broadband dielectric spectroscopy (BDS) and specific heat spectroscopy (SHS). By self-assembly, these ILCs can form a hexagonal ordered mesophase besides plastic crystalline phases and the isotropic state. SHS was carried out by differential AC-chip calorimetry at higher frequencies and temperature modulated DSC at lower frequencies. Two relaxation processes were found by BDS for both samples. At low temperatures, a γ-processes is observed which is assigned to specific localized fluctuations. At higher temperatures, α1-processes take place. α2 processes were also detected by SHS but with a completely different temperature dependence of the relaxation times. Different molecular assignments of α1- and α2-processes are suggested. At even higher temperatures, conductivity was detected by BDS. An increase in the DC conductivity by four orders of magnitude at the phase transition from the plastic crystalline to the hexagonal columnar mesophase is found. This result is traced to a change in the charge transport mechanism from a delocalized electron hopping in the stacked aromatic systems (in the plastic phase) to one dominated by an ionic conduction in the quasi-1D ion channels formed along the supermolecular columns in the ILC hexagonal mesophases. T2 - 10th Conference on Broadband Dielectric Spectroscopy and its Applications CY - Brussles, Belgium DA - 26.08.2018 KW - Ionic Liquid Crystals PY - 2018 AN - OPUS4-45914 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Yildirim, Arda T1 - Liquid Crystals Forming a Columnar Mesophase: Structure, Dynamics and Electric Conductivity N2 - The molecular dynamics and ionic conductivity of ionic liquid crystals (ILCs) forming a columnar mesophase, two linear-shaped tetramethylated guanidinium triflates ILCs having different lengths of alkyl chains, were investigated by a combination of Broadband Dielectric Spectroscopy (BDS) and Specific Heat Spectroscopy (SHS). Three processes were detected by BDS; at low temperature γ-process, at higher temperatures α-process and at even higher temperatures conductivity. The γ-process indicates localized fluctuations, and the α-process designates cooperative fluctuations. Slightly different restrictions were found for conductivity processes of LC536 and LC537 due to the slightly different lengths of alky chains. The conductivity mechanisms in the plastic crystalline and the columnar mesophase have been revealed by BDS and different charge carriers were assigned for the different phases. Furthermore, the cooperative dynamics were also probed by SHS. The cooperative dynamics probed by the different techniques (BDS and SHS) compared, and assigned to the different restrictions on the cooperativity due to the difference in the sensitivity of the techniques. T2 - Seminar Vortrag Technische Universität Berlin CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 28.06.2018 KW - Columnar Liquid Crystals KW - Ionic Liquid Crystals PY - 2018 AN - OPUS4-45383 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -