TY - JOUR A1 - Cerclier, C. A1 - Ndao, M. A1 - Busselez, R. A1 - Lefort, R. A1 - Grelet, E. A1 - Huber, P. A1 - Kityk, A.V. A1 - Noirez, L. A1 - Schönhals, Andreas A1 - Morineau, D. T1 - Structure and phase behavior of a discotic columnar liquid crystal confined in nanochannels N2 - The confinement of discotic columnar liquid crystal in nanoporous templates is a promising strategy to design nanofibers with potential applications in organic electronics. However, for many materials, geometric nanoconfinement has been shown to induce significant modifications of the physical properties, such as structure or phase behavior. We address the case of a discotic columnar liquid crystal confined in various templates. The influence of the size, the roughness, and the chemical nature of pores was investigated for a pyrene derivative by small-angle neutron scattering, X-ray diffraction, and calorimetry on a wide range of temperatures. A homeotropic anchoring (face-on orientation of the disk-shape molecules at the interface) is favored in all smooth cylindrical nanochannels of porous alumina while surface roughness of porous silicon promotes more disordered structures. The hexagonal columnar–isotropic phase transition is modified as a result of geometrical constraints and interfacial interactions. PY - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/jp303690q SN - 1932-7447 SN - 1089-5639 VL - 116 IS - 35 SP - 18990 EP - 18998 PB - Soc. CY - Washington, DC AN - OPUS4-26827 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kityk, A.V. A1 - Busch, M. A1 - Rau, D. A1 - Calus, S. A1 - Cerclier, C.V. A1 - Lefort, R. A1 - Morineau, D. A1 - Grelet, E. A1 - Krause, Christina A1 - Schönhals, Andreas A1 - Frick, B. A1 - Huber, P. T1 - Thermotropic orientational order of discotic liquid crystals in nanochannels: an optical polarimetry study and a Landau-de Gennes analysis N2 - Optical polarimetry measurements of the orientational order of a discotic liquid crystal based on a pyrene derivative confined in parallelly aligned nanochannels of monolithic, mesoporous alumina, silica, and silicon as a function of temperature, channel radius (3–22 nm) and surface chemistry reveal a competition of radial and axial columnar orders. The evolution of the orientational order parameter of the confined systems is continuous, in contrast to the discontinuous transition in the bulk. For channel radii larger than 10 nm we suggest several, alternative defect structures, which are compatible both with the optical experiments on the collective molecular orientation presented here and with a translational, radial columnar order reported in previous diffraction studies. For smaller channel radii our observations can semi-quantitatively be described by a Landau–de Gennes model with a nematic shell of radially ordered columns (affected by elastic splay deformations) that coexists with an orientationally disordered, isotropic core. For these structures, the cylindrical phase boundaries are predicted to move from the channel walls to the channel centres upon cooling, and vice-versa upon heating, in accord with the pronounced cooling/heating hystereses observed and the scaling behavior of the transition temperatures with the channel diameter. The absence of experimental hints of a paranematic state is consistent with a biquadratic coupling of the splay deformations to the order parameter. PY - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c4sm00211c SN - 1744-683X VL - 10 IS - 25 SP - 4522 EP - 4534 PB - RSC Publ. CY - Cambridge AN - OPUS4-30866 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Calus, S. A1 - Kityk, A.V. A1 - Borowik, L. A1 - Lefort, R. A1 - Morineau, D. A1 - Krause, Christina A1 - Schönhals, Andreas A1 - Busch, M. A1 - Huber, P. T1 - High-resolution dielectric study reveals pore-size-dependent orientational order of a discotic liquid crystal confined in tubular nanopores N2 - We report a high-resolution dielectric study on a pyrene-based discotic liquid crystal (DLC) in the bulk state and confined in parallel tubular nanopores of monolithic silica and alumina membranes. The positive dielectric anisotropy of the DLC molecule at low frequencies (in the quasistatic case) allows us to explore the thermotropic collective orientational order. A face-on arrangement of the molecular discs on the pore walls and a corresponding radial arrangement of the molecules is found. In contrast to the bulk, the isotropic-to-columnar transition of the confined DLC is continuous, shifts with decreasing pore diameter to lower temperatures, and exhibits a pronounced hysteresis between cooling and heating. These findings corroborate conclusions from previous neutron and x-ray-scattering experiments as well as optical birefringence measurements. Our study also indicates that the relative simple dielectric technique presented here is a quite efficient method in order to study the thermotropic orientational order of DLC-based nanocomposites. PY - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.92.012503 SN - 1539-3755 SN - 1063-651X VL - 92 IS - 1 SP - 012503-1 EP - 012503-6 PB - American Institute of Physics CY - Melville, NY AN - OPUS4-33813 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -