Carbosilane terminated alkoxycyanobiphenyls for bistable scattering mode LCDs

We report the synthesis and characterisation of a family of cyanobiphenyl liquid crystals with varying alkyl chain length and a carbosilane (1,1,3,3-tetramethyldisilabutane) terminal group. These materials exhibit significant reductions in melting point compared to the analogous alkoxycyanobiphenyls and related siloxanes. X-ray scattering studies demonstrate that the carbosilane unit affords control over the SmA layer structure similar to that reported for other bulky terminal units. We demonstrate a single pixel ion-doped SmA scattering device utilising a single carbosilane terminated cyanobiphenyl that is capable of operating at room temperature with a temperature range of over 80 °C.