Ingenieurwissenschaften und zugeordnete Tätigkeiten
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- Discotic liquid crystals (2) (entfernen)
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Due to their chemical structure, a rigid disk-like aromatic core and flexible alkyl chains attached to the core, discotic liquid crystals (DLCs) can organize and stack themselves into columns in a hexagonal columnar mesophase, a mesophase in between the plastic crystalline and isotropicphase. The overlap of the π orbitals of the aromatic core in the hexagonal columnar mesophase leads to a high charge-carrier mobilitie along the column axis – these columns can be considered as “moleculer nanowires” making liquid crystals a promising class of materials for electronic applications. Previous studies on DLCs showed that the phase behavior of DLCs is susceptible to nano confinement. Here in this study, the thermotropic collective orientational order of 2,3,6,7,10,11 hexakis[hexyloxy] triphenylene (HAT6), a triphenylene based DLC, and the effects of nano confinment on of its phase behavior were investigated by broadband dielectric spectroscopy (BDS) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). HAT6 was embedded into nanoporous anodic aluminum oxide membranes by melt infiltration in the isotropic phase under argon atmosphere. The filled membranes have the thickness of 80 µm and the diameter of 15mm and parallel aligned tubular nanopores having the pore diameters of 25, 40, 80 and 180 nm. The filling degree for each sample was checked by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) in order to ensure complete filling. The bulk HAT6 forms, a hexagonal columnar phase between the isotropic phase above 371 K, and the plastic crystalline phase below 340 K. Unlike the bulk, the confined HAT6 forms two peaks in the heat flow during the plastic crystalline-to-hexagonal columnar phase transition, which might be the evidence of two different phase structures close to the wall and in the pore center. Moreover, the isotropic-to-columnar transition of the confined HAT6 shifts with decreasing pore diameter to lower temperatures.
Discotic liquid crystals (DLCs) are self-assembled materials where self-assembly is driven by non-covalent intermolecular interactions. The corresponding molecules consist of a flat and rigid aromatic core substituted by flexible aliphatic side chains. While the former is responsible for the π-stacking, the latter gives rise to an increased solubility, processability, and rich thermotropic behavior. The disc-shaped molecules form columns that further assemble into two-dimensional arrays with a hexagonal mesophase. The alkyl chains fill the intracolumnar space giving rise to a nanophase separated state.
Two different homologous systems based on triphenylene derivatives were investigated as model systems for DCLs where the length of the aliphatic side chains is widely varied. Measurements were carried out in the bulk state and confined to the nanometre wide channels of anodic aluminum membranes (Pore diameter 20 nm, 40nm, 80 nm and 180 nm) by means of inelastic and quasielastic neutron scattering. These investigations were accompanied by calorimetry and dielectric relaxation spectroscopy. From the neutron scattering experiments the vibrational density of states (Boson Peak) from neutron time-of-flight spectroscopy, the molecular dynamics on a time scale of ca. 1 ns (elastic scans from neutron backscattering spectrometers) as well as quasielastic neutron scattering by a combination of time-of-flight spectroscopy and backscattering were considered. Structural information is retrieved by X-ray diffraction carried out on a synchrotron.
The dynamics of these unique soft matter materials are discussed in detail considering their structure (length of the aliphatic side chain), the effect of self-confinement (of the aliphatic chains in the intracolumnar space) and of outer confinement (influence of the pore size). Comparison is further made to pyrene based system.