In- and quasielastic neutron scattering is employed to investigate both the vibrational density of states and the molecular dynamics of two homologous discotic liquid crystals (DLC) with different length of the alkyl side chain based on a triphenylene derivate. For both compounds characteristic low frequency excess contributions to the vibrational density of states are found. Therefore it is concluded that these liquid crystals show a glass-like behaviour. Elastic scans further show that in these materials a rich molecular dynamics takes place.
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.