Jones, SA orcid.org/0000-0002-8579-6444, Bailey, J orcid.org/0000-0002-2938-2204, Walker, DRE et al. (2 more authors) (2018) Method for Tuneable Homeotropic Anchoring at Microstructures in Liquid Crystal Devices. Langmuir, 34 (37). pp. 10865-10873. ISSN 0743-7463
Abstract
A simple method for vapour-phase deposition of a silane surfactant is presented, which produces tuneable homeotropic anchoring in liquid crystals. Both the zenithal anchoring energy and surface slip are measured by fitting to the latching threshold versus pulse width characteristic of a zenithal bistable nematic liquid crystal device based on a deep, submicron grating. The method is shown to give microscopic anchoring strength between 5 × 10⁻⁵ and 2 × 10⁻⁴ J/m², with a surface slip of about 100 nm. The silanated surfaces are characterized using atomic force microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, which show a direct relationship between the surface coverage of silane groups and the resulting anchoring energy.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2018 American Chemical Society. This is an author produced version of a paper published in Langmuir. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | Surfactant; surface treatment; nematic liquid crystal; homeotropic alignment; anchoring energy; grating alignment; photo-polymer; bistable nematic LCD |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Physics and Astronomy (Leeds) > Soft Matter Physics (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number EPSRC EP/L015188/2 Displaydata Limited Not Known |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 23 Aug 2018 15:03 |
Last Modified: | 17 Dec 2024 11:06 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | American Chemical Society |
Identification Number: | 10.1021/acs.langmuir.8b01951 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:134926 |